
Class 71 (.-. y, -i _ 
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MY EXPERIENCE 
WITH SPIES 



IN THE 



Great European War 

BY 

BERNHART PAUL HOLST 

Author, Publisher and Business Man; Teacher 
and Superintendent of Schools, Iowa; Insti- 
tute Lecturer and Instructor; Author 
of Educational Literature. 

Writer and Collator of Works of General Reference; 

Author of Poems of Friendship and Other 

Poems; Traveler for Research 

Work in Art, Sciences, 

Antiquities, Etc. 




'The soul, secured in her existence, smiles 

At the drawn dagger, and defies its point." 

— Joseph Addison 



BOONE, IOWA, and CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 

THE HOLST PUBLISHING 

COMPANY 



.S7H6 



Copyright, 1916 
THE HOLST PUBLISHING COMPANY 




i)CI.A428436 



PREFACE 

npHIS volume is offered the reader as a col- 
-*- lection of chapters which treat of subjects 
that are closely allied to the great war in Europe 
which burst forth like an earthquake in 1914. 
Each one of the several topics has a place in the 
list of vital themes in an eventful epoch. 

The treatment is written in a narrative style, 
not technical, but quite fully conversational. In 
connection with a number of the chapters are 
stanzas of verses written especially for this 
book. 

In narrating many facts in regard to spies 
and scouts, the writer introduces the leading 
places visited in an eventful trip abroad. In 
the third chapter, entitled My Introduction to 
Spydom, is the beginning of the list of chapters 
which recite the details of the object and work 
of spies. 

It must not be assumed that the writer con- 
demns spies as workers of evil and iniquity. 
While these secret agents sometimes are false 



6 PREFACE 



and detestable, sometimes vile and traitorous, 
they frequently do good and are the means of 
bringing about results by methods that operate 
quickly and in the end save life and property 
from destruction. Perhaps, in the wiser econ- 
omy of war, it is impossible wholly to dispense 
with systems of espionage. 

The treatment in this book is from an Ameri- 
can standpoint. It is the result of touring as 
a student and writer in twelve countries of 
Europe. The possibility of giving so much 
detail in regard to espionage is due to no mean 
ability to mingle freely with different nationali- 
ties and to converse with them in their own 
tongue. 

It is hoped that this volume will be read and 
pondered in the spirit in which it was written. 
If it contributes to the correction of wrongs 
suffered by Americans at sea, personally and 
commercially; if, at the same time, the reader 
is entertained and instructed, the purposes of 
the writer will have been accomplished. 



CONTENTS 

Chapter Page 

I Motives and Purposes - 11 

II The First Step 16 

III The Flight to Niagara - 23 

IV My Introduction to Spydom - - 31 
V Breaking Bread with Spies - - 43 

VI Spies at the Round Table 49 

VII On the Waves - - - ' - 61 

VIII In Prison at Sea .... 66 

IX Dieting Norway and Sweden - 79 

X In the Danish Capital 92 

XI Like Smelling Powder - - - 105 

XII Visits with Claus Bravo - - - 112 

XIII The Imprisonment and Release - 120 

XIV Secret Agents in Warsaw - - 129 
XV The Dainty Spy in Berlin - - 141 

XVI Methods and Dangers of Spying - 157 

XVII Sailing the Cattegat - - - 167 

XVIII A Thousand Miles Around - - - 176 

XIX Filing a Protest .... 183 

XX America off the Sea - - - - 189 

XXI What is Americanism ? - - - 199 

XXII Poems Written Abroad - - - 206 



THE SPY 

Once he was young and brave and fair, 
Free from the strain of guilt and care; 
His mind was pure, his heart was clean, 
His face bore marks of happy mien; 
His teacher looked with hopeful pride 
Upon the joys that thrift betide; 
And often said, "Life well begun, 
Assures the laurels will be won." 

He grew to manhood tall and fair, 

With manly strength and shoulders square; 

He stood six feet, and every inch 

Was borne to work and not to flinch; 

When others fainted by the way, 

He did his part without dismay; 

With all his mind and all his heart 

He ever strove to do his part. 

Then came the tempter and he fell 
Before the vile, seducing spell; 
He learned to fetch and feint and lie, 
Which fitted him to be a spy; 
8 



THE SPY 



Although oftimes he was dismayed, 
From day to day he plied his trade, 
But proved a traitor to his cause 
And wronged the mandates of the laws. 

He shrank from man. His silent mood 
Made him but fit for solitude; 
He hid his face and breathed a sigh, 
When he met others eye to eye; 
And when a sound came to his ear 
He trembled much with deadly fear; 
And, as his dubious course he ran, 
He palled beneath the curse of man. 



My Experience with Spies 

IN THE 

Great European War 



i 

MOTIVES AND PURPOSES 

MANIFOLD were the motives that induced 
me to leave my home in Boone, a thriving 
town in Iowa, and undertake a trip to Europe 
while the sparks were flying from the fire of 
many battlefields. I had no desire to expose 
myself to the carnage of war, or to witness the 
destruction of men as they fought for the prin- 
ciples which their country espoused, but rather 
to pursue in peaceful manner the investigations 
which seemed essential in the study of art, 
history and literature. 

The time within which the tour was to be 
made limited me somewhat, hence I prepared 
a schedule of places to be visited, including in 
my list the institutions and their special char- 

11 



12 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



acteristics that I considered most noteworthy 
from my standpoint. This preparation for a 
trip always is necessary. It gives in a regular 
plan the objects to be seen and studied, thereby 
economizing the element of time to the best 
advantage. 

My purpose was to visit in order Norway, 
Sweden, Denmark and Germany. This could 
be accomplished in from three to four months 
with good results. My list of noteworthy things 
and places to be seen was quite large, but in 
this chapter only the leading ones will be 
mentioned. 

The chief aim in Norway was to study the 
folklore of the Norsemen. This caused my 
interest to center in the National Library and 
the Norwegian Folklore Museum in Christiania. 
Incident to this study was to be an investigation 
of the ships and other relics buried in tumuli 
by the Vikings at Gokstad. It also involved a 
trip through Trondhjem and as far north as 
Hell, a seaport on a fjord of the western coast. 

My purpose in Sweden was first of all to visit 
the university city of Upsala, in whose library 



MOTIVES AND PURPOSES 13 

is preserved the only Gothic manuscript in 
existence. This document contains parts of the 
four evangels written by Archbishop Ulphilas, 
about 500 A. D., and was taken from Prague in 
1648 by the Swedes. My plan also included a 
visit to Gamle Upsala, the scene of Gustaf 
Vasa's activities, to view at Stockholm the 
Ridderholms Church and to make a short study 
in the Nordiska Museum. 

To Denmark I was attracted by the works of 
Thorwaldsen, whose museum is the shrine of 
artists and poets. Incidentally I placed on my 
list such adjacent towns as Helsingor and other 
places made famous by Shakespeare, Ibsen and 
Andersen. 

My plan was to visit at least one of the 
warring countries for the study of economic and 
sociological conditions as they were influenced 
by the war. At first I planned to make England 
that country, but, thinking the Baltic safer 
water than the North Sea, I decided to enter 
Germany. 

In my travels through Europe I have visited 
more than a dozen of the leading countries. On 



14 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

my list of noteworthy objects to be seen were 
the prominent churches, libraries, opera houses, 
theaters, universities, museums, art galleries, 
tombs, armories, fortifications, gardens and 
parks, castles in ruins and royal palaces. The 
noted churches, such as the Dom at Berlin and 
Westminster Abbey in London, are first in my 
mind and I have visited and attended worship 
in more than one hundred of this class of 
churches and cathedrals. 

Europe is the cradle and nursery of modern 
civilization. Here is the soil in which the roots 
of American institutions had their primitive 
growth. Every nation of that continent has con- 
tributed vital elements to the newer and freer 
life in the new world. 

That life is freer in America must of course 
be taken in the spirit in which such a statement 
is made. In many respects human activities 
are less limited and restricted in Europe than in 
America. As a whole the restraints upon an 
individual and the limitations upon society are 
less in the old world than in the new, except in 
the ability that men and women have in America 
to rise from poverty to affluence and wealth. 



MOTIVES AND PUEPOSES 15 

From the standpoint of education, both liberal 
and industrial, as well as professional, the 
European youth has the advantage. The activ- 
ities of life are unhampered and the possibilities 
of .growth are unlimited, except by the station 
of birth, which places the uninfluential beginner 
at a disadvantage. This is true of republican 
France and Switzerland as well as of imperial 
England, Germany and Austria-Hungary. 

A trip to Europe, no matter whether the 
traveler is of native or foreign birth, broadens 
and liberalizes the mental processes. It fur- 
nishes the stimuli to live in the higher fields of 
art and literature, to think more systematically, 
and yet to appreciate American possibilities and 
institutions more thoroughly. 

Here are stated briefly the motives and pur- 
poses that induced me to venture abroad while 
the sea was infested by mines and submarines, 
while the air was rent by shot and shell from 
the largest cannon ever drawn into battle. In 
the chapters that follow are given some of the 
experiences I had incident to the trip, all of 
which impressed me as landmarks in a memor- 
able tour of the old world. 



II 

THE FIRST STEP 

lV/fY 40-liorse power automobile did good 
■*• A service in the drive of seven blocks on 
the rainy evening of September nineteenth, 
1915, when I began my trip to the turbulent 
scenes of Europe, where the great war, which, 
since its beginning in the Balkan states, had 
been spread as a cloud of evil over the largest 
part of the continent. The drive was from my 
residence to the Northwestern depot, from 
which the great train of steel cars was about to 
depart on its run for Chicago. 

At the station I was greeted by a number of 
anxious friends, who looked upon such a trip 
as I was about to make more in the light of a 
tragedy rather than a necessary quest for 
material to weave into history and literature. 
It appeared to them as though we were at the 
brink of a final separation, at the verge of the 

16 



THE FIRST STEP 17 

last farewell, so much had the reports of float- 
ing mines and other demons of destruction at 
sea, in the zone of naval blockade, impressed 
them. I confess even now that to me the liabil- 
ities of a venture into Europe at this hazardous 
time seemed to become magnified, especially as 
thoughts of the fate of the Lusitania, the Arabic 
and other ships passed through my mind, but 
such illusions, as I choose to call them now, 
quickly passed away and I soon felt fully 
assured of utmost safety even in the war zone. 

Though several hundred passenger and 
freight vessels had been wrecked in the waters 
contiguous to the countries at war, though many 
seagoing people had found their grave beneath 
the waves, though I was to pass through the 
same waters infested with submarines and float- 
ing mines, it remained true that no ocean-liner 
sailing under a neutral flag had been destroyed, 
or even damaged, by Germany or any other 
belligerent country. These nations, fighting for 
their life and their economic integrity, sought 
to destroy only the ships of the enemy that 



18 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

were armed or were engaged in carrying con- 
traband. 

In my possession I had an official passport 
to enable me to conduct my work of study and 
research in Norway, Denmark, Sweden and 
Switzerland, issued by authority of the United 
States government, which, in order to become 
valid in the belligerent countries, required the 
visa of a consular officer of each of the coun- 
tries which were at war and which I necessarily 
must enter to conduct my investigations. With 
this document in regular form, I felt that my 
security was absolute, so long as I traveled on 
a ship of a neutral country, such as steamship 
Frederick VIII, which carried the flag of Den- 
mark. These conditions well guarded, I left 
home and friends with pleasant anticipations of 
an interesting trip across the Atlantic. 

As I was about to board the Pullman car, I 
noticed one of the leading suffragettes of the 
community among those who had gathered on 
the platform. She was coming toward me with 
the winsome smile that only a veteran in the 
battalion of a suffragette campaign can wear, 



THE FIRST STEP 19 

and I felt rather pleased than disappointed to 
have her among those who were to wish me a 
pleasant journey and a safe return. 

"Put a few bullets into the kaiser for me 
while you are in Europe ' ' were the words with 
which this apostle of equal rights greeted me as 
I felt her hand taking mine. "Well," said I 
earnestly, " I am an American and am going to 
Europe to study, to explore, not to fight. If it 
were possible, and, if the life of the kaiser were 
at stake, I would put forth an effort to save it 
as quickly as I would, to the extent of my ability, 
protect the life of the king of England or the 
president of the United States. I believe it to 
be the duty of an American, when he is abroad, 
to so conduct himself that he will be a credit 
and honor to his country. This duty compels 
me to preserve absolute neutrality in relation 
to the belligerent nations instead of — " At this 
point she began speaking and I cannot recall all 
she said, but her parting words, which she 
intended to be friendly, were these: "If that 
is the way you feel about it, if you are not going 
to help overthrow the kaiser, I do not care what 
happens to you. ,, 



20 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

The trainmen were giving the signal to 
depart, hence I said the final goodbye to all, 
stepped upon the platform of the car and waved 
my hat as the engine pulled the train from the 
electric lighted city into the darkness of the 
night. For some reason I could not easily for- 
get the words of the suffragette, not as easily 
as I wished, and they came back to me not only 
as I lay my head on the pillow in the sleeper, 
but likewise later when the ship on which I 
sailed was rocked on the swells of the sea. 
These words came to my mind when the British 
detained me and my fellow passengers in the 
Orkney Islands; they surged to the surface 
when I saw the flash lights and heard the sound 
of bursting shells in an engagement in the 
waters off the coast of Scotland. Again they 
came to me when I met face to face William II., 
the accomplished leader and devout Christian, 
as he stepped, accompanied by his wife and only 
daughter, from the great Bom Kirche in Berlin, 
after the five hundredth anniversary service of 
the Hohenzollerns. But each time, no matter 
when or where I recalled a trivial, unbalanced 



THE FIRST STEP 21 

remark of any kind, I grew stronger in the con- 
viction that the true American loves America 
first and that he cannot, that he must not, be 
unfair to either side in the great War of Nations. 

The firm conviction that safety lies in fairness 
and sympathetic neutrality, sympathetic be- 
cause friendly to peace and humanity, is the 
mighty bulwark of defense when we enter the 
field of dangerous contention among nations. 
That I profited by this conviction is attested by 
the many acts of kindness which were extended 
to me in my travels in the leading countries of 
Europe, in a number of which I saw much of 
the destruction and hardship that the carnage 
of war has power to produce. 

The written, as well as the unwritten, law of 
nations requires that each nation must so shape 
its policies that the public conscience will justify 
its acts. This law is likewise operative upon 
each individual, and by it we are to be guided 
and governed. When we live up to this law, 
conducting ourselves according to its mandates, 
we become a potentiality of great power. 

America is not the vassal of any country, but, 



22 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

instead, an independent, sovereign state. Each 
citizen, whether at home or abroad, should 
manifest by word and act a high class of citizen- 
ship ; he should be ' ' Slow to anger, and of great 
kindness.' ' With this motto I was venturing 
on my exploit to the perilous scenes of war. 

In the earnest times produced by war and 
rumors of wars, it is not considered wise to 
give full expression to our feelings, when dis- 
cretion directs that we should control our pas- 
sions. In this connection it may be well to con- 
sider who is 

THE REALLY WONDERFUL MAN 

The man who smiles when he's glad, 
And frowns and scolds when he 's mad, 
And bitterly cries when he's sad 
Is only the natural man. 

But the man who smiles when he 's mad, 
And joyfully laughs when he's sad, 
And tearfully cries when he's glad 
Is really the wonderful man. 



Ill 

THE FLIGHT TO NIAGARA 

nnHE great engine which pulled the Calif or- 
■*■ nia Mail train into the Northwestern pas- 
senger terminal at Chicago labored with the 
precision of the solar law. Although it had 
come to a full stop before I passed by its great 
drivers, there was a beating within quite like 
the pulsation of the human heart after a great 
effort, like that following a long and precipitous 
ascent. A quarter of a century ago such a 
machine would have attracted the plaudits of 
multitudes, but the passengers it had deliv- 
ered safely at their destination hurried by with- 
out noticing the powerful monster, intent on 
passing through the station and securing rapid 
conveyance to the Loop District in the heart of 
Chicago. 

Breakfasted and shaven, my first work in- 
cluded the purchase of book paper and the de- 

23 



24 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 




"£xrrutiur DfpnrtuWxil 

6TATC OF IOWA 
DCS MOINKA 



TO ILL TO V7H0M THESE PRESENTS 3EA1L C0i£— GREETED. 

Mr. Bernhart P* Hoist, the bearer hereof, a most 

excellent eltizen of the State of Iowa, one of the States 

of the United States of America, and wide lyknown as an educator, 

publisher and man of business, contemplating a trip to European 

countries, more especially to the oountries of northern Europe, 

for the purpose of gathe ing information along historical lines 

In oonneotion with his editorship of hooks of reference and 

/or the purpose of studying conditions, political, sociological 

and educational, I do hereby. In the name of the people of Iowa, 

bespeak for him such official and other recognition as shall be 

oompatible with the public interest of the places he may visit, 

and X espeolally ccnmend him to the kindly consideration always 

due a high order of oltlzenahip of one country from a like 

citizenship of another. 

IN TSSTI1SJKY WHERETF, I have here- 
unto set my hand and caused to be affixed 
THE GREAT SEAL the Creat Seal of Io,r »' 

Done at See Moines, Iowa, this 
Of TEE 13 *k day of September 1915. 

8TATS W M fy.Ux6ltV>-/& 

Governor of the State of Iowa. 
Copy of letter written by Governor G. W. Clarke. 



THE FLIGHT TO NIAGARA 25 

livery of copy for an edition of books to my 
publisher. My publishing house, knowing that 
I was starting on a trip abroad, seemed so- 
licitous about safety on the sea and reminded 
me of the fate of my friend Elbert Hubbard, 
who had gone down on the ill-fated Lusitania. 
Here, again, I reminded the apprehensive 
friends that security had been assured to those 
neutrals who travel on neutral ships and jok- 
ingly added, "In my case destruction is impos- 
sible; I carry an ample amount of life insur- 
ance." 

Having dispatched general business matters, 
my final object in Chicago was to have my pass- 
port visaed so as to admit me to the warring 
countries of Europe. However, this was merely 
a matter of form, as the personal letters which 
I carried from Senator Cummins, Congressman 
Woods, Governor Clarke, Senator Kenyon, 
Professor Bell and many other men prominent 
in politics and in education were sufficient to 
make the introduction ample and effective. 

At the door of the German consulate on Mich- 
igan Avenue was the notice of Zutritt ohne An- 



26 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



JOMN (MIAN, etc.*. 



TXnHeb &l*U* Senate, 

COMMITTEE ON 
THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 

Dee Moines, Iowa. 
Sept. 22,1915. 

To Whom It May Concern? 

I am glad to say in behalf of the 
bearer of this note. Mr. Be mart P. Hoist, of 
Boone. Iowa, that he is an energetic, success- 
ful business roan of my state. He is a gentle* 
roan of hl£h character and worthy of confidence* 
I cordially commend him to those whom he may 
meet in the trip to Europe that he is about to 
begin. 

Yours wry truly, ^ 

Copy of letter written by Senator Albert B. Cummins. 



THE FLIGHT TO NIAGARA 27 

klopfen, which was the first vivid suggestion on 
this trip of notices as they are posted in Eu- 
rope, where reminders are seen in nearly all 
public places as to what should be done and 
what should not be done in keeping with public 
safety and sanitation. Americans who travel 
in Europe will do well to read such notices 
and heed them; by doing so they may save 
themselves annoyances. At home such notices 
as ' ' Do not Spit on the Floor ' ' are of little in- 
terest to Americans; they seem to think the 
reminders are meant for some one else, but in 
Europe the injunction is enforced by a penalty 
on the negligent. 

The reception at the German consulate was 
cordial, but I felt somewhat self-conscious lest 
my usual democratic demeanor would prevent 
me from returning graciously the very hearty 
reception accorded by the officials with whom I 
came in contact. However, I was soon put at 
ease and my passport was validated, in spite of 
the fact that many others had been refused. 
After having been told the fee was $1.20, 1 laid 
$2.00 on the desk and said, " Although I have 



28 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

not yet acquired the habit I presume you have, 
and the change will provide the necessary Ha- 
vana. ' ' But the official assured me he had not 
learned the art of smoking and stated his gov- 
ernment would not permit any consular officer 
to accept a treat or gift and that I would not 
be permitted to leave the change on the desk. 
It appeared to me that this officer was emulat- 
ing the Iowa anti-tipping law which had re- 
cently come into force. However, I said, "Gut 
gesagt," and we shook hands and I bowed out 
as cleverly as possible. 

The trip from Chicago to New York was 
made over the New York Central lines. Leav- 
ing Chicago at three o 'clock in the afternoon on 
the Michigan Central train, I passed through 
Detroit and Lower Canada, reaching Niagara 
Falls while the early twilight was beginning to 
beautify the great cataract. The train halted 
on the Canadian side, near Table Eock, and the 
Pullman passengers were notified so they might 
see the falls in early morning, before the hun- 
dreds of electric lights along the shore were 
turned off. The great rush and roar of the 



THE FLIGHT TO NIAGARA 29 



water and the dense mists rising above the 
precipice, before the orb of the sun had risen 
above the horizon, was very beautiful. 

The Falls of the Niagara properly are classed 
with the natural wonders of America. This 
phenomenon of nature is not excelled in gran- 
deur of aspect and in magnitude of strength 
anywhere. It is utilized to a very large extent 
for water power and through this source fur- 
nishes light and propelling force to scores of 
hamlets and cities. My tribute to it is expressed 
in the following stanzas: 

THE FALLS OF THE NIAGARA 

My soul is awed in me 

As I look up to thee 
And see the waters pouring o'er thy brink; 

In silence here I stand, 

Nor move a foot nor hand, 
As of thy grandeur solemnly I think! 

"When the flight of years began, 
No stream in thy course ran, 
For all the region was a boundless sea; 
And as the land appeared, 



30 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

And hills and vales were cleared 
Of waters deep, thy place was marked for thee. 

And thou wert not content 

To leave thy course unbent, 
Or pour thy waters ever at one place — 

But broke the icy locks, 

And cut away the rocks, 
Thy brink with certain strides up-stream to trace. 

Thy waters gently glide, 

In vale, on mountain side, 
As from the mists and silvery clouds they fall; 

But wakened from their sleep, 

As from thy rocks they leap, 
O'er hills and woods peal forth a mighty call. 

Deep echoes unto deep 

As swift thy waters leap 
And glide adown the channel to the bay; 

A veil of mist is seen, 

And as thy waters stream 
They mark the flood of years in rock and clay. 

Thy ever deafening roar 

Causes the mind to soar 
To Him who in a deluge plied the rod, 

But in His sight thou art 

A very meager part 
And speak in simple tones of nature's God. 



IV 
MY INTEODUCTION TO SPYDOM 

rilHE route of the New York Central lines 
A from Buffalo to Albany, about 300 miles, 
follows quite closely the course of the Erie- 
Hudson Canal, so-called because it is the water- 
way between Lake Erie and the Hudson Eiver. 
This, the most important artificial waterway in 
the United States, was once the greatest route 
of commerce in New York and in the eastern 
part of the country. In the open season quite 
a number of small canal boats are seen, al- 
though the lines of the West Shore Eailway 
and the New York Central and Hudson Eiver 
Eailway now parallel the entire distance and 
carry all but a small fraction of the business. 
However, the canal is in a better working con- 
dition than it ever was, even in the time of Gov- 
ernor Clinton, as it has been deepened and the 
sluices, bridgeheads, locks and in-flow channels 

31 



32 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

are in part or wholly built of solid and rein- 
forced concrete. 

Along this canal, in view of fields and pas- 
tures, the train was speeding swiftly when 
breakfast was announced in the diner. The 
call was a welcome summons and I repaired 
at once to the modern, well-arranged dining 
car, where several ladies and a somewhat larger 
number of gentlemen already were seated at 
the tables. My eyes surveyed the passengers 
with more than ordinary interest, not that I was 
looking for a familiar face, but because I was 
attracted by the appearance of several gentle- 
men who gave the impression that they were 
not Americans. 

I ate at a table designed for two diners, but 
the seat opposite mine was unoccupied and I 
had, for that reason, greater freedom in study- 
ing the faces of those who attracted my atten- 
tion. It was my conclusion that the faces in 
which I was interested included those of one 
Englishman, one German and two Frenchmen. 
They seemed to avoid conversation with each 
other, both here and later in the Pullman cars, 



MY INTRODUCTION TO SPYDOM 33 

and I began to think of them as secret agents 
who were operating in connection with the busi- 
ness end of the war in Europe. 

At the first call for lunch I again made my 
way to the diner and noticed that the gentleman 
whom I had suspected of being an Englishman 
was seated at a small table by himself. This 
appeared to be my opportunity to study him 
more closely and I took the seat left unoccupied 
at the same table, facing him squarely, and 
began a conversation about the weather ancl 
other topics which usually are uppermost in the 
semi-vacant mind. My first effort secured the 
information that he had boarded the train at 
Niagara Falls and was ticketed for New York, 
where he had very important business not en- 
tirely of a personal nature. His conversation 
was guarded and considerate, while mine began 
to appear evasive ; at least this is my estimate 
of the diplomacy we were practicing. 

Several years before I had been told by a 
court-joker, of which there are many in Eu- 
rope, that the name of Hanson is borne by one- 
third of the people of Denmark and that the 



34 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

remainder of the populace in that country is 
largely of the Hoist, Peters and Larsen fami- 
lies. Now, under these circumstances, if I 
would gain the confidence of this fellow trav- 
eler, I could not reveal my real identity, but, 
instead must choose one or more of the meth- 
ods of concealment which are so common in 
detective work. 

It appeared to me that I could gain some 
very important information through this new 
acquaintance and, at the same time, acquire 
knowledge which would enable me more fully 
to realize and understand the position which 
the United States as a neutral nation is occupy- 
ing to the warring countries in Europe, espe- 
cially in regard to over-sea commerce. The 
principal facts of this information I could, of 
course, obtain from my government, but the 
secret, the concealed manipulations that pro- 
mote the interest of a belligerent nation must 
be looked for elsewhere. 

"I take you to be an Englishman, or at least 
an English subject," said I, after a pause. 

He smiled knowingly and answered affirma- 



MY INTRODUCTION TO SPYDOM 35 

tively, saying, "Your guess is correct in both 
particulars. ' ' 

"Well," I continued, "I was born English, 
that is, I hail from the Australian state of Vic- 
toria, near the city of Hamilton, where my 
father settled on land nearly seventy years 
ago. ' ' 

"0, indeed,' ' said he, "then you must know 
much of Ballarat and Melbourne and Geelong, 
where I have been often. ' ' 

"Yes," I replied, "they are easy of access 
by rail from Hamilton, especially Ballarat, 
where the diggings yielded great wealth in gold 
nuggets and still are rich in this mineral. And 
Melbourne, the second city of Australasia, the 
beautiful metropolis of the state of Victoria, 
with its wide streets and fine university, is a 
favorite place." 

After this our conversation was easy and 
covered a wide range of topics. Luckily we did 
not occupy seats in the same Pullman car, hence 
we agreed to meet at Albany and take dinner 
together on the run from that city to New York. 
I indicate that it was fortunate that we did not 



36 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

occupy seats in the same car, and I found it so, 
because it gave me an opportunity to plan a 
line of conversation for the evening ride. 
At Albany all passengers for New York were 




Simple outline of the so-called Sign of Silence. 

required to change cars and it was necessary 
to wait a brief time to make connections. On 
the platform I met my new acquaintance, who 
had made himself known to me as John Fen- 



MY INTRODUCTION TO SPYDOM 37 

wick of Adelaide, Australia, and here lie was 
in earnest conversation with two young men. 
These he introduced to me as George Fenton 
and James Barton, the former a stout man 
with blue eyes and auburn hair and the latter a 
tall individual with keen, dark eyes and slightly 
gray hair. 

In greeting them I took the right hand in 
mine and pressed the last joint of the small 
finger between the thumb and second finger of 
my right hand. Then I opened the back cover 
of my watch and inside of it exposed the Sign 
of Silence, saying, ' ' This is the safe side. ' ' They 
answered, each for himself, l i I notice. ' ' 

Having made the impression that I had 
knowledge of this order of secret agents and 
their manner of identification, I won their con- 
fidence. This way of winning them to trust me 
I had learned in Chicago several weeks before, 
where I met a number of large buyers of horses, 
who confided in me because I knew much of the 
horse market and the shipment of horses from 
Iowa. 

Although Mr. Fenwick and his companions 



38 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

looked upon me as one of their class of people, 
I was far from it and entered upon a study of 
this line of operations as an interesting adjunct 
of the great war in Europe and Asia. 

Mr. Fenwick had confused my statement, "I 
was named after my father," to mean that my 
name was William Henty. I did not tell him 
this, but said that an Australian ranchman 
named William Henty, who, I think, was a rela- 
tive of George Alfred Henty, the noted English 
author, owned a large range in the state of Vic- 
toria, near Hamilton, and that he resided on 
this range and engaged in rearing sheep and 
cattle. From this circumstance he spoke of me 
as the Australian, and seemed to be pleased that 
I was British by birth. 

The trio of spies, as I choose to call them now, 
hailed with satisfaction the intelligence that I 
had been in Iowa, where I had made observa- 
tions of the purchase and shipment of horses 
for the allies, especially England and France. 
These shipments included several thousand 
animals. 

This information was correct, as I had seen 



MY INTRODUCTION TO SPYDOM 39 

many car loads of horses unloaded for feeding 
at Boone, Valley Junction and other railway 
divisions in the Mississippi valley, later to be 
reloaded and forwarded to points east and 
eventually to Europe. I had also seen many 
horses that had been bought in the vicinity of 
Boone for the entente allies and had examined 
them in the yards before shipment. 

The western farming and ranching country, 
especially the Mississippi Valley, was covered 
by agents buying draft and army horses. 
Hundreds of posters were scattered throughout 
the stock-raising districts, among mule and 
horse raisers, and many newspapers carried dis- 
play advertising in their columns. 

This enterprise was promoted by speculative 
buyers, and secret service men usually were near 
at hand to create sentiment favorable to the en- 
tente allies among the farmers and at the hotels. 
It would have been more profitable to the 
farmers and ranchers, the prices of horses would 
have been higher, had transportation across the 
Atlantic been unobstructed by Great Britain. 

Mr. Fenwick and his associates admitted this 



1000 

HORSES WANTED 

We buy more horses than any 2 
firms in the west. 

We Will Buy All Marketable Horses 

from 1100 to 1800 lbs., and 4 to 
9 yrs. old. We buy the best that 
grows, there are none too good 
for us. If you have a good horse 
be sure and bring him in. 
We don't mind slight blemish. 

At North Feed Barn 
Boone, Sat, Feb. 12 

Harrison & Shames, Chicago Horse Buyers 



Sample Advertisement of Horse Buyers published in 
the Boone News-Kepublican. 



MY INTRODUCTION TO SPYDOM 41 

without argument. While the entente allies 
were paying a moderate price for horses, they 
profited greatly by shipping before or at the 
time England began to blockade the neutral 
trade, that is, before the freight rates across the 
Atlantic had increased enormously. This prof- 
it was at the expense of the American horse 
growers, a definite loss to our farmers and 
ranchers, of which these secret agents were well 
aware. 

They secured the impression that I was on 
my way to Europe for the purpose of looking 
more closely into the stock market in Denmark, 
where Germany had purchased quite heavily at 
the beginning of the war. As all this caused 
them to speak more freely, I evaded a discus- 
sion of my mission to Denmark, but told them 
I was ticketed for Copenhagen and that I ex- 
pected to make the Hotel Central, on Eaadhus- 
pladsen, my headquarters. This induced them 
to have even greater confidence in me than be- 
fore, as strangers usually give the mailing ad- 
dress at general delivery in the post office, 
instead of divulging their place of abode. 



42 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

No blockade of the neutral countries had been 
declared up to this time, but neutral commerce 
was greatly limited through delays caused by 
stopping ships on the high sea, often holding 
them at such ports as Kirkwall, Greenock and 
Stornoway, but a general movement for a for- 
mal blockade of all neutral ports was under 
consideration. This impending policy was the 
reason why many secret agents were employed 
to watch very carefully the movement of freight 
in such ports as Copenhagen and Rotterdam. 



V 
BEEAKING BREAD WITH SPIES 

SOON after the train left Albany, I joined the 
trio in the dining car and, fortunately, we 
secured a table by ourselves. This was to be 
the farewell dinner of four who had widely di- 
verging routes and vastly different purposes 
before them. Mr. Fenwick was to sail to Liver- 
pool, Mr. Fenton and Mr. Barton were en route 
to the south and west, and I, as stated in a 
former chapter, was bound for Copenhagen. 
How wonderful it would be if we could meet 
two months later to compare the experiences 
and achievements of each traveler with that 
of the others ! 

The ride down the Hudson River always is 
pleasant, especially along the lower course, 
where every foot of ground stands out promi- 
nently in the annals of America. Orators and 
poets, owing to the beauty of the scenery along 

43 



44 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

its banks and its celebrity in history and litera- 
ture, have named the Hudson the "Bhine of 
America.' ' This term is quite appropriate, to 
say the least, as here are Tarrytown, Pough- 
keepsie, "West Point, Ossining and other places 
of note. In this stream Eobert Fulton operated 
the first steamboat. Here also are the scenes 
of the treason of Benedict Arnold and the ad- 
ventures of Ichabod Crane and Eip Van Win- 
kle, the wonderful creations of Washington 
Irving. Toward the lower course are the cliffs 
known as the Palisades, which tower as a solid 
wall of granite above the great volume of water 
in the channel. 

The circumstance that we were passing down 
the margin of one of the greatest waterways of 
America, so rich in the history and literature of 
the new world, gave an opportunity for a wide 
range in conversation while dinner was being 
served. However, each member of the quar- 
tette spoke passively and uninterestedly of the 
many topics which were mentioned, asking and 
answering questions in a strikingly absent- 
minded fashion. The cause was not difficult to 



BREAKING BREAD WITH SPIES 45 

guess, as it was apparent that each had a lower 
stratum of thought — each was thinking of the 
situation in which he was placed and the work 
he expected to do. 

At length, in order to turn the trend of 
thought into a new channel, I made a successful 
effort to bring the conversation to my child- 
hood scenes in Australia. I spoke of the great, 
arid plains, dotted with salt-water lakes, the 
sheep and cattle ranges, and the numerous birds 
of fine song and beautiful plumage. Later I 
drifted the conversation to the rich diggings of 
Ballarat, where my father had found many 
large nuggets of gold, saying that the gold of 
Ballarat is the brightest of the metals and, for 
that reason, is among the most valuable. 

"By the way," I said, "I still have a brother 
and several other relatives in Australia. One 
of these, Mr. John Holt, was a school teacher 
in his early manhood. Correspondence which 
I carried on with him a number of years, and 
which proved very interesting to me, led me to 
mention circumstances of which he knew in sev- 
eral poems. One of these, entitled If Sweetest 



46 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

Charms of Love are Lost, I wrote recently and 
expect to mail to his address when I reach New 
York." 

The fact is that I had written these simple, 
unpretentious lines after I had met Mr. Fen- 
wick at breakfast, thinking I could employ them 
as a lure to gain his confidence. 

When a traveler is far from home, totally 
among strangers, it often happens that some 
little word spoken at the right time, some slight 
mannerism, or even knowledge of a peculiar but 
insignificant event, will win a friend or influ- 
ence a kind act. With this in mind I passed 
my verses written on railway paper to each 
separately. They read them and nodded 
approvingly. 

The effect of my feint was that I was invited 
to meet with them at Hotel Belmont in New 
York, where they had planned a consultation. 
This invitation I accepted and agreed to be 
there as soon as possible after I would reach 
the city, not later than eight o 'clock. The verses 
that won this invitation and the entire con- 
fidence of these secret agents are as follows : 



BREAKING BREAD WITH SPIES 47 

IF SWEETEST CHARMS OF 
LOVE ARE LOST 

The free gold found at Ballarat, 
On slopes, in vales and placer mines, 
Made many a bank deposit fat, — 
As brightest of the metals shines — 
And I asked Jonathan to bring 
None other in the wedding ring. 

REFRAIN 

0, Jonathan, remember this; 
The prices paid do not bring bliss ; 
Buy no costly diadems, 
No brilliant stones, no shining gems ! 
0, Jonathan, heed what I say 
And save your coin for future day — 
Buy a plain ring at Ararat, 
Made of the gold of Ballarat. 

The rainy season came and went 

And beauty roses bloomed once more, 

A brilliant diadem he sent 

With wreaths of flowers to my door — 

I said, ' ' I much regret the cost, 

If sweetest charms of love are lost." 



48 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

We had been friends a year or more 
And took a trip to Melbourne-side ; 
A bracelet on my arm I wore, 
And gems of pearls cut full and wide — 
But said, "I much regret the cost, 
If sweetest charms of love are lost. ' ' 



VI 
SPIES AT THE ROUND TABLE 

IT OTEL BELMONT is at Park Avenue and 
** ■* Forty-Second Street, near the Grand 
Central Terminal, and is a fine structure of 
twenty stories. It required little time to ar- 
range for transferring my baggage, hence I 
soon entered the lobby of the great hotel, where 
I met the trio with whom I had eaten dinner on 
the train. They were expecting me and greeted 
me heartily, complimenting the promptness I 
had shown in keeping my engagement. 

After a short visit in the lobby of the hotel, 
we repaired for a light luncheon to a cafe in 
the vicinity, where a private dining room had 
been reserved for us and to which refreshments, 
including cigars and several bottles of cham- 
pagne, had been brought. It was not long until 
we got down to " merriment and business,* ' as 
Mr. Fenwick called the proceedings. 

4 49 



50 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

Unfortunate in goodfellowship is he who at- 
tends such a meeting, if he has not learned to 
smoke and to imbibe the nectar of Bacchus, but 
this was my plight in the council which had 
assembled to promote or influence the labors of 
Mars. However, I was excused good-naturedly 
on the ground that, as I was to sail on the mor- 
row, such indulgence would unsettle me as a 
sailor. 

Between jokes and drinks, both of which 
came fast, but of which the latter came the 
faster, the discussion turned almost entirely to 
the project of starving Germany and her allies 
into submission. 

"The neutral countries," said Mr. Fenwick, 
"particularly Holland and the Scandinavian 
nations, are to be restricted more and more in 
their trade, especially the imports. This policy 
is beginning to take effect already, since their 
freighters are either held up in British harbors 
or are on the black list ; their passenger steam- 
ers likewise are being delayed from several days 
to a week in each passage across the ocean, all 
of which means limitation of the goods needed 
to feed the hungry in Europe. ' ' 



SPIES AT THE ROUND TABLE 51 

Mr. Barton mentioned an article he had seen 
in the New York Tribune to the effect that 
nearly one hundred neutral freight ships had 
been blacklisted because they violated the 
requirement which Great Britain imposed, 
namely: that any vessel carrying goods which 
found their way ultimately into Germany would 
be seized, and both vessel and goods would be 
held as prizes of war. " Another demonstra- 
tion that Britannia rules the waves, ' ' said he. 

Mr. Fenton called attention to the stagnation 
of freight in New York, where not less than 
25,000 loaded freight cars had accumulated and 
were unable to unload or discharge their goods 
because transportation across the ocean either 
was delayed or in many cases entirely sus- 
pended. He added, smiling: "But the Ameri- 
can people, especially President Wilson, will 
not do more than file meaningless protests, even 
if the British should destroy totally the trans- 
Atlantic commerce of the United States. There 
are now two politicians who are British by birth 
in the presidents cabinet, I mean Secretary 
Lane and Secretary Wilson, and both are very 
agreeable friends of their mother country. ' ' 



52 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

The discussion of these and kindred topics 
continued for several hours. I joined in the 
exchange of thoughts from time to time with 
the view of learning all I could about the work 
of spies and particularly of the objects of the 
trio with whom I was spending the evening. 
In this I was not only successful, but I learned 
many circumstances which would aid me in com- 
municating with spies in Europe, especially in 
Christiania and Copenhagen. 

In some manner these men had secured the 
information that the entente allies designed a 
virtual blockade instead of a nominal obstruc- 
tion of German and neutral ports, which they 
stated would take effect early in 1916. The im- 
mediate purpose of Mr. Barton and Mr. Fenton 
was to visit Philadelphia, "Washington and Chi- 
cago on a propaganda to create sentiment in 
favor of such an actual blockade, or at least to 
neutralize and, if possible, dissipate grave op- 
position to the impending Orders in Council, 
which Great Britain was contemplating. They 
were to aid in spreading reports unfavorable to 
Germany, such as would prejudice the Ameri- 



SPIES AT THE ROUND TABLE 53 

can people against the Central Powers, particu- 
larly the claims of cruelty to wounded soldiers 
and the needless destruction of churches and 
charitable institutions. In this connection they 
mentioned several newspapers and public men 
of New York and Washington who could be re- 
lied on to support their designs. 

"The report that Turkey has destroyed the 
life of 800,000 non-combatant Armenians,' ' sug- 
gested Mr. Fenwick, " is a prolific benefit to the • 
British. What care I whether true or false, 
whether dreamed or imagined. So long as the 
political newspapers and church journals will 
publish this faked piece of war news it will hurt 
the Central Powers, especially if the kaiser is 
charged with knowingly approving of such 
slaughter. I tell you," he added, "this kind of 
dope makes the Americans take notice." 

"Well," said Mr. Barton, after emptying a 
fair-sized glass of champagne and blowing a 
cloud of tobacco smoke across the room, "I 
think the best dope is to keep the Yankees think- 
ing the Germans are about to invade New York 
with an army of a million men, supported by a 



54 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

fleet of fifty superdreadnaughts. This will keep 
them discussing what they call ' preparedness 
for defense ' while England is destroying neu- 
tral trade between America and Europe." 

" There seems to be method in this proposi- 
tion/ ' said I, "because if America and the neu- 
tral countries of Europe are permitted to build 
ships and establish many transportation lines, 
placing large merchant marines on the seas, 
England will have powerful trade competition 
with which she will need to reckon after the war 
is over. The easiest way, it seems to me, is to 
pursue the policy of killing the possibility of 
this competition before it is established, just as 
England is doing by blacklisting neutral ships 
and interfering with freight cargoes in transit 
on the seas." 

"Bravo!" said Mr. Fenwick, "Bravo! Keep 
neutrals off the sea while the war is in progress, 
while there are few ships and much freight. 
Prevent them from developing a larger trans- 
oceanic trade ; destroy what they already have, 
if possible, and when the war is over England 
will continue to be mistress of the waves and 



SPIES AT THE ROUND TABLE 55 



the scheme known as the freedom of the seas 
will be a forgotten dream !" 

Having made what he considered a capital 
speech, Mr. Fenwick blinked his eyes and lilted 
in an unusually cheerful tone the rag-time he 
had hummed several times before : 

' ' Ah 1 lend y o ' ma hat ! 
Ah T lend yo ' ma flat ! 
Ah'l lend yo' ma lovely overcoat of fur ! 
Ah'l lend yo' eberyt'ing Ah've got — excep' ma wife ! 
An' Ah'l mak' yo' a present of HER!" 

The trio laughed merrily and smacked their 
lips as they sipped the champagne drawn from 
a bottle with a long, slender neck. Mr. Fenton 
held his glass near his chin and smiled approv- 
ingly, shouting, "That is the spirit of genuine 
liberality." 

To me his smile appeared bland and harm- 
less, but the impression he made, as he moved 
the glass up and down, was sinister and betrayed 
covert evil and danger. I began to feel uneasy 
and uncertain of the situation. This was the 
first experience of the kind I had ever witnessed, 



56 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

and it was wholly possible that these men might 
become unmanned by drink and do both me and 
themselves harm. 

I had long ago learned that the nicotine in the 
tobacco and the alcohol in the champagne, each 
working by itself in the human system, are less 
powerful than when they join forces and attack 
the inner vitals of man. Under such conditions, 
when the body is saturated with these ardent 
foes of the nerve forces, reason is dethroned 
and man becomes a slave instead of a powerful 
molding and directing force. He stoops and 
cringes before the influence which he started out 
to control. 

Instead of studying me and my motives and 
purposes, these men became anxious to tell me 
of their experiences in the past and what they 
had set out to accomplish in the future. Instead 
of being a plastic organism in their hands, to 
be formed into shape and used to accomplish 
their desires as they had intended, they were 
divulging to me what I wanted to know of them 
in particular and the work of secret agents in 
general. 



SPIES AT THE ROUND TABLE 57 

The school in which I had suddenly become a 
student was interesting beyond my power to 
describe. They howled and roared like raving 
beasts that are seeking to devour each other. 
My eyes and ears were open every moment, per- 
mitting nothing to escape, while I said only 
sufficient to keep the trio busy in their eagerness 
to surpass each other in relating the smart 
stories with which detectives are familiar. In 
this manner I easily accomplished my purpose, 
that is, I learned much of the work and methods 
of secret agents in America and received the 
information which enabled me to find their com- 
patriots in Europe. 

At this juncture I also learned that Mr. Fen- 
wick was ultimately to locate in Holland, where 
he was to join other secret service men in keep- 
ing a close watch of the movements of goods 
imported with the consent of Great Britain from 
North and South America. He was to ascertain 
whether any of these goods were finding their 
way into Germany, and, if so, in what quantity 
and under what conditions. 

By this time we had finished our luncheon and 



58 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



the table was cleared of dishes and bottles. Mr. 
Fenwick, who was the spokesman of the trio, 
acted in the role of the jester. At times he would 




Pointing his finger at me, he fairly screamed: "I'm the 
boy that's doing the business. My work will give England 
absolute world dominion ! ' ' 

shont vengeance against the foes of Great 
Britain and at other times he became docile and 
tractable. 



SPIES AT THE ROUND TABLE 59 



He was inclined to be emphatic when he spoke 
of "horse flesh," as ne <^Ued aYm J horses. 
Pointing his finger at me, he fairly screamed, 
"I'm the boy that's doing the business. My 
work will give England absolute world 
dominion ! ' ' 

I was ready to leave the table and planned to 
do so as gracefully as possible. All I still wanted 
was some information about the confederates of 
Mr. Fenwick in Denmark. This was not difficult 
to obtain. 

These spies, or secret service men as they 
called themselves, had the impression that I was 
in the same line of work as Mr. Fenwick, except 
that I was to operate in Denmark. For this 
reason they gave me much information about 
commercial affairs which were not open for 
publication and supplied me with addresses of 
people in Denmark in whom I could confide. 
The session came to a close at about ten o'clock, 
after which I hurried to the place of my resi- 
dence near the Battery, where I had engaged 
quarters. 

Before leaving New York I mailed several 



60 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

letters and many American newspapers to the 
Danish capital, addressing them in care of 
Hoved Post Kontor, Kopenhagen, Denmark. 
The letters had been given to me by Mr. Fenwick 
for identification among some people he knew 
and they later proved of much value to me in 
conducting my study of the work of spies and its 
effect upon commerce and the trend of the war. 
My purpose in mailing the letters and news- 
papers was to evade the possibility of losing 
them in case of detention and seizure of the 
ship before reaching the capital of Denmark, 
which was not entirely out of the range of prob- 
ability. 



VII 
ON THE WAVES 

nnHE ocean-liner Frederick VIII was throb- 
* bing under the pressure of superheated 
steam when I arrived at the docks in Hoboken, 
shortly before two o'clock in the afternoon of 
September twenty-second. Everything was 
ready for her to put to sea in the long route 
across the northern part of the Atlantic. My 
baggage had come on time, marked with the 
usual sign "Baggage Wanted,' ' meaning that 
it was to be taken to my room No. 10 on the 
promenade deck, and I was supplied with the 



BEWARE 

OF 

CONFIDENCE-MEN AND SWINDLERS ! 



familiar card bearing the injunction "Beware 
of Confidence-men and Swindlers!" Soon the 

61 



62 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

band began to play Kung Kristian stod ved 
hojan mast, the whistle sounded the final warn- 
ing, and the ship began to move from her 
moorings. 

The thrill of excitement, the joy of the open 
sea, the impulse of a freer life are experiences 
which never are felt more vividly than when the 
ship has left the land and moves forward 
proudly in its voyage upon the waves. With the 
face toward the fore, as the ship passes swiftly 
outward from New York Bay, the passenger 
J leaving the shore of America looks back only 
twice, once to receive a last vivid impression of 
the sky-line marked by the great buildings of 
the Knickerbocker City and once, but the last 
of all, to note the figure of Bartholdi's statue 
representing Liberty Enlightening the World. 
Strangely, too, the impressions made by these 
two features of New York seem to accompany 
the traveler ever after. 

The observing voyager begins to study faces 
and characters as soon as the first few highly 
interesting hours on the open sea are over. On 
this trans-Atlantic trip I met many fine people, 



ON THE WAVES 63 



ladies and gentlemen of wide reading and 
experience, and I began to cultivate them very 
early in the voyage. They embraced many 
classes of people from western Europe, includ- 
ing also those in the second cabin and third 
class, in both of which I spent some time in 
studying conditions in America and Europe as 
they are reflected by those who take a journey 
across the ocean. 

At the table to which the chief steward 
assigned me were one Danish officer of the 
steamship and seven passengers. The latter 
included one English, one German, two Belgian 
and three American citizens. The general con- 
versation was in German, and this was pleasing 
to me, as it gave me an opportunity to cultivate 
the use of the Teutonic tongue with much effect. 
As a whole, the circle of people at this table and 
of the first cabin was very congenial and they 
soon became the best of friends. We made the 
long ride as far as the Shetland Islands with no 
strange or unusual events. 

Mr. Otto Tamini, the noted German-Italian 
singer, who occupied a seat at the table opposite 



64 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

mine, was on his way to Europe to take the chief 
role in Wagner's Lohengrin and to sing in other 
operas and he often delighted us with choice 
selections. At a benefit concert, which netted 
380 kroner for the Sailors' Society of Good 
Intentions in Copenhagen, he sang several num- 
bers with much success. The instrumental 
music for this program was furnished by Mrs. 
Car] a Fuhn, of Bumania, and Mr. Henry C. 
Hanson, of Denmark, gave a reading. I read a 
number of selections from my works, including 
the following, which I wrote especially for the 
occasion : 



ON "FREDERIK VIII." 

At Fred'rik's festal board we met 

From day to day, 
But now must part with deep regret 

To our dismay ; 
Sadly we leave the roses here, 
That bloom for us, that give us cheer, 
And ne'er forget, if far or near, 

When we go 'way. 



ON THE WAVES 65 

Much like a dream o'er ocean's waves 

The good ship sails, 
No matter how the wild wind raves 

It never fails ; 
And as it proudly moves along", 
"We pass the time with cheerful song, 
Or visit much, — a happy throng — 

In calms or gales. 

An ocean trip, like human life, 

Soon passes by; 
We gather strength from toil and strife, 

A smile, a sigh ; 
And if we live the larger sphere, 
Live for the right, for true friends dear, 
Then, with the very best of cheer, 

Bid them goodbye! 



VIII 
IN PRISON AT SEA 

/^N the morning of September thirtieth, even 
^^ before the light of day announced its 
coming, wireless messages concerning the 
steamship were caught up by the Marconi 
operator. They came in rapid succession, ask- 
ing "Frederick VIII, where are you?" 

Commander Andersen, the veteran captain 
of the Scandinavian- American Steamship Com- 
pany, was in no hurry to have an answer, which 
would divulge the location of the vessel, flashed 
back to the inquiring intruder. He apparently 
was driving as rapidly as possible toward a 
point north of the Shetland Islands, thinking he 
might be able to escape capture and detention 
of his ship by the British. 

The British were keeping a careful account 
of the sailings across the Atlantic in both direc- 
tions. They knew that steamship Frederick 

66 



IN PRISON AT SEA 67 

VIII was somewhere approaching the region of 
the Shetland Islands and they were determined 
to intercept her and hold her subject to inspec- 
tion. 

The cargo had already been listed by British 
officers in New York, who had been detailed to 
keep an account of the freight as well as the 
passengers taken on board. They knew that the 
ship had large quantities of American mail and 
much meat, the latter consisting in the main of 
ham and bacon. This information was obtained 
at the custom house, from the clearance papers, 
and even more minute details were required to 
be given by the owners of the ship, as the 
passage across the ocean was granted by Great 
Britain only under such conditions as she her- 
self imposed. 

In this connection I recalled the conversation 
of the English secret service men in New York, 
how they said England would interfere with the 
transportation of goods and passengers, not 
alone to injure Germany, but also to damage 
and, if possible, disrupt the trade of neutrals. 
It was becoming certain that the Marconi calls 



68 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

for information regarding the captain's ship 
came from the British and that they had decided 
to seize and search her. 

"Frederick VIII, where are yon; an imme- 
diate answer demanded, ' ' came the cajl, but the 
ship surged forward. Officers with powerful 
telescopic glasses were sweeping the sea in quest 
of a ship, but none was seen. They kept their 
own vessel racing with the utmost velocity, they 
redoubled their efforts to make away and 
become lost to the searcher. 

It was an interesting race, a fine show of 
power and endurance as the fore of the ship 
plowed through the moaning sea at early morn. 
Behind the great vessel was a briny furrow in 
the waves, evidencing that the powerful twin 
screws were working under the utmost pressure 
of superheated steam. 

It was not until the bright orb of the sun had 
risen above the horizon that a British auxiliary 
cruiser came into full view. The ship 's Marconi 
station had already answered the call, and the 
course of the vessel was bending to meet the 
ship of war. Much excitement prevailed among 



IN PRISON AT SEA 69 

the passengers, especially when the ship came 
to a full halt in response to a cannon shot from 
the intruder, and a shrill megaphone from the 
battleship announced, "You are wanted at 
Kirkwall' ' 

Soon a small boat with officers and men came 
toward us and boarded the steamer, while the 
guns on the battleship constantly pointed at us. 
The officers and men who had come from the 
battleship immediately disconnected the wire- 
less apparatus, at which an armed guard with 
a fixed bayonet was stationed. Other armed 
soldiers were detailed to guard different parts 
of the ship, in the front and rear, and on the 
different decks. At the same time a pilot took 
charge of and directed the steamer in the drive 
of about two hundred miles to the Wide Firth 
and through it to the Bay of Kirkwall. 

When nearing the narrow channel which 
affords entrance into the bay, several estates 
with imposing buildings became visible, near 
which were pastures and grounds for hunting 
rabbits and small game. Delightful cliffs and 
vales with interesting features were numerous. 



70 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



But the passengers seemed to see only the nets 
set to catch submarines and the evidences of 
mines placed to prevent intrusion by the enemy. 




An individual mine, capable of 
great destruction. 

A flagship piloted our vessel through this hot- 
bed of destruction, but it moved with the velocity 
of a snail. This precaution was necessary 




The British auxiliary cruiser which arrested the neutral 
steamship Frederick VIII. and compelled it to be imprisoned 
seven days at Kirkwall. 




Mines exploded and lighted the heavens and filled the air with 
fumes and smoke. 



(Opp. 71) 



IN PRISON AT SEA 71 

because the danger of being blown to atoms was 
formidable. 

To be deprived of personal freedom was in it- 
self bad, but the presence of mines made the 
danger of sudden destruction probable. Every- 
where I could see long strings of floaters that in- 
dicated the exact points of danger. Here and 
there I could observe large and ugly looking 
machines capable of producing death and anni- 
hilation at the slightest impulse. 

At night, after the imprisonment had con- 
tinued several days, a battle occurred at sea. 
Streaming searchlights shot far into the 
heavens as each side endeavored to keep sure of 
the exact location of the enemy. Shot and shell 
were thrown great distances as the heavy guns 
boomed forth with much noise and power. 
Mines exploded and lighted the heavens and 
filled the air with fumes and smoke. 

And this is said to be civilization ! In no line 
of enterprise have the races of culture exceeded 
the savage so much as in devising machines to 
ruin and kill! I heard and saw the dastardly 
work and became resigned to the conditions 
that surrounded me in this unfortunate place. 



72 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

In the Bay of Kirkwall we spent seven days. 
The bleak and dismal hills of the Orkney Islands 
bounded our view, except towards the south, 
where we could see the small town of Kirkwall, 
the capital of Orkney County, Scotland, which 
nestles in a depression between the hills. On 
the first day the passports of the passengers 
were examined, for which purpose all on board 
passed before a British officer and Commander 
Andersen, each showing his papers and answer- 
ing questions as to occupation, place of birth 
and purpose in traveling. 

Our ship was anchored near the center of the 
bay, in the vicinity of many freighters, but no 
passenger vessels were seen. I counted fifteen 
vessels that had been hauled in, some of which 
were too far away to enable me to distinguish 
their names, which were near the water line, but 
in my notebook I recorded the names of the 
Muskogee of New York, the Pythia of Norway, 
the Minsk of Denmark, and the Ester, the 
Oregon, the Osterland, and the Gustav Adolf of 
Sweden. Each day some were released and 
others were brought into the bay to be searched 



IN PRISON AT SEA 73 

for contraband destined to the enemies of the 
entente allies. 

It was difficult to secure information of the 
contents and the exact destination of these 
ships. The British soldiers on board were 
reluctant and divulged little. Finally an Ameri- 
can passenger of Scotch descent with a Scotch 
brogue became interested and made himself 
agreeable with these soldiers; his Scottish 
appearance and manners won their confidence 
and to him they talked freely. 

From this source, coupled with information 
obtained from other reliable quarters, it was 
learned that by far the larger number of these 
ships were destined for Scandinavian ports, 
while a few, loaded in part with chemicals of 
German manufacture, were bound for America. 
The ships sailing for Europe contained chiefly 
American wheat, meat, lard, cotton, corn and 
petroleum. This is in part an explanation of 
why the more important chemicals in the 
American market had advanced in price from 
fifty to five hundred per cent. It likewise con- 
tained the reason why the products of the farm 



74 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

and factory were stagnated in the warehouses 
and on railways at New York and other eastern 
gateways of America. 

It was also learned at Kirkwall that ships 
loaded with powder, dynamite, mines, grenades 
and other implements designed to burn prop- 
erty, wreck homes and destroy human life were 
permitted to sail without interference. In fact, 
such vessels were aided to move with the great- 
est facility. On the other hand, the ships that 
contained food for the hungry and appliances 
to take care of the sick and wounded were 
obstructed and delayed. 

To my mind came the 12,000,000 refugees, 
cold and starving in the bleak winter of central 
Europe, who had flown as the army of the czar 
of Eussia retreated eastward to the Dvinsk and 
the Dnieper rivers. I thought of the women and 
children of Poland, Servia and Belgium who 
needed succor and support. In my mind I could 
see the depressed serfs, poor and uneducated, 
who had escaped to Petrograd, where food 
prices had reached the high mark that only the 
rich could defray. Finally, I had in mind the 



IN PRISON AT SEA 75 



laboring elements of the Scandinavian coun- 
tries, where necessaries were scarce and employ- 
ment limited. These peoples, especially those 
who had flown from their homes, were suffering 
vastly more than the people of Germany by the 
restriction of trans-Atlantic trade. 

Every moment at Kirkwall seemed like a day 
and every day like a cycle while we were held 
as prisoners in a strange land surrounded by 
mines, submarines and torpedo boats. British 
soldiers with fixed bayonets guarded the ship 
and the passengers were deprived of the privi- 
lege of telegraphing or writing to friends or 
consulting the consul representing their coun- 
try. No one was permitted to set foot on shore 
or receive information and news from any 
source. It was strictly forbidden to take pic- 
tures, but this injunction was not obeyed by 
those who possessed kodaks. 

Among the passengers was Mr. Niels Peter- 
sen, who had been in Canada and had taken 
pictures at the principal seaports, such as St. 
John, Halifax, Quebec and Montreal. His 
photographs included views of harbors, bridges, 



76 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

railway terminals, stretches of highways and 
prominent buildings. He had been tracked to 
New York, where he was detected by British 
spies, and a telegram to Kirkwall by way of 
London demanded his arrest on the charge that 
he was guilty of espionage. 

This party declared his innocence and claimed 
to be a Dane. He admitted having the photo- 
graphs, but said they were taken for his per- 
sonal study and for no other purpose. On the 
seventh day at Kirkwall he was taken from the 
ship as a spy and removed in a small boat. At 
the time of his arrest he was singing a patriotic 
song of Denmark, verses of which he continued 
singing as he was removed, and while taken 
away he waved his hand in farewell to the 
steamship that had carried him into the hands 
of his accusers. This was the last seen of him 
by the passengers ; it is said he was taken to a 
detention camp and later imprisoned. 

No one else and no part of the cargo were 
removed. The latter was allowed to go forward 
under bond that none of it would be permitted 
to enter Germany. Thus, after a delay of seven 



IN PRISON AT SEA 77 

days, without justification and contrary to inter- 
national law, the steamship finally was piloted 
out of the bay and through the same field of 
mines which terrorized the passengers at the 
time of entry. 

After leaving Kirkwall, the ship sailed 
almost continually in places of danger until 
Copenhagen was reached. Fields of mines were 
encountered in the Christiania Fjord as well as 
in the Skager-Eak, the Cattegat and portions of 
the Sound. However, I left the ship at Christi- 
ania to make a trip through Norway and Sweden 
before going to Copenhagen. 

While at Kirkwall I was requested by a num- 
ber of passengers to write two or three comic 
verses on the capture, detention and release of 
the vessel. Although I am not specially adept 
at telling a story or writing humorous literature 
of merit, I penned several as a substitute for 
the latter, of which the following is a sample : 



78 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

WHEN WE SAILED FOR DENMARK 

When we sailed for Denmark 
Like Crusoe sailed of old, 
Pirates caught us napping 
And captured all our gold, 
And captured all our gold. 

But our gold was bacon 
And gave them all the gout; 
So the sickly pirates 
Soon threw us down and out, 
Soon threw us down and out. 

Near a rocky island 
We waited many a day 
For final word from London, 
So we might sail away, 
So we might sail away. 

Youngsters grew to manhood 
And adults lost their sight, 
But we kept on waiting, 
A waiting day and night, 
A waiting day and night. 

Though we 're growing aged, 
We will not feel forlorn, 
If we land in Denmark 
Ere Gabriel blows his horn, 
Ere Gabriel blows his horn. 



IX 

DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 

A T Christiania I was accompanied to Hotel 
-**■ Continental by Mr. H. 0. Nordin, a build- 
ing contractor of Chicago, who was en route to 
Sweden on business and remained in Norway 
only a short time. To this gentleman I am 
indebted for assistance in searching for evidence 
of the measures Great Britain had adopted to 
control and, if possible, disrupt the neutral 
trade across the Atlantic. He had taken kodak 
pictures of much value, including a number of 
views of the British cruiser that had stopped us 
and impressed the passengers to be imprisoned 
at Kirkwall. 

British trade spies were numerous at the rail- 
way stations and in the vicinity of the docks. I 
saw them at restaurants and in the lobbies of 
the leading hotels, especially at the Grand, the 
Scandinavie, and the Continental. It was not 

79 



80 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

difficult to identify myself by using the Sign of 
Silence, which I had employed successfully at 
Albany, when the two companions of Mr. Fen- 
wick were introduced to me. My knowledge of 
the purchase of horses, grain, cotton and meat 
by the allies in America interested them. 

These spies were studying the register at the 
leading hotels so they might know the class of 
strangers who were in the city, whether German, 
Russian, French, etc., and the effect which the 
propaganda of these or any of them had upon 
public thought in Norway. They were concerned 
with the classes of goods imported and exported 
by Norway, particularly the volume of business 
transacted and with what nations trade rela- 
tions were sustained. The data which the secret 
service men of the allies were tabulating were 
gathered with the view of securing information 
which would aid Great Britain to restrict the 
trade of Norway so closely that only sufficient 
imports to keep the country from starving 
would be moved. 

From Christiania I went to Trondhjem and 
later to Hell, both seaports on fjords with deep 



DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 81 

harbors. At both these places I found spies of 
the allies on the same mission as those at 
Christiania, but in addition also agents friendly 
to Eussia who were counteracting the rising 
feeling against the czar and his alleged desire 
to annex northern Sweden and Norway, to 
secure an outlet through an open port on the 
Atlantic. 

On my second day at Trondhjem, shortly after 
leaving the Grand Hotel, I met Mr. Solomon 
Lankelinsky, a Hebrew merchant, from whom I 
learned much of the Russian agents who were 
working to influence sentiment. In fact I had 
met many Jews and all with whom I came in 
contact expressed themselves anti-Russian. 

At this time the campaign at the Dardanelles 
was in full swing, which the czar expected would 
be forced by the British and French, after which 
Constantinople would be captured and the 
whole region annexed to Russia to connect her 
commercially with the Mediterranean. Several 
secret agents of Russia I met here and at Hell 
made this solution in the near East the theme 
of conversation and promulgated discussion by 



82 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

publishing articles regarding it in the news- 
papers. It appeared singular that these secret 
agents, although acting for Eussia, conversed 
almost entirely in the German language, which 
tongue is spoken extensively in Warsaw and 
many large cities of Eussia. 

The harbor at Hell is not as advantageous in 
many respects as the one at Trondhjem and the 
town is of less importance, but it is located con- 
veniently on the railway which crosses into 
Sweden and forms a continuous route to Sund- 
vall, which, by steamship routes across the Bay 
of Bothnia, can be reached easily from Eussia by 
way of Finland. It is not difficult to understand 
how important this route would be to Eussia, 
especially in the time of war, as it would furnish 
an open sea and enable free communication for 
troops and supplies the entire year. 

However, the secret agents of Eussia, detailed 
to influence sentiment, were emphasizing the 
value of the Dardanelles as a Eussian route by 
water. They repudiated the reports that the 
czar had any desire to annex any part of the 
Scandinavian Peninsula. But, in spite of this, 



DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 83 

the shadow of the Bussian bear was disturbing 
the suspecting Norwegians. 

In the Swedish capital, the city of Stockholm, 
the secret service men likewise were abundant. 
They were active in the lobbies of the Grand, 
the Continental and the Central hotels. I met 
them in the city and in the suburbs, everywhere 
busy as bees. Here the work of spies was not 
so much concerned with commerce as with the 
study and direction of public sentiment, for 
which purpose they wrote for newspapers both 
in Sweden and in their own countries. 

This was before the movement for conscrip- 
tion had made much progress in England, and 
the British were endeavoring in vain to induce 
men to join the army. One of the English 
secret agents showed me a poster that was being 
used to enlist the support of the women, think- 
ing they would lend a hand to induce their 
husbands, sons or sweethearts to go to war. A 
reduced size of the printed form is shown in 
this book. Posters of this kind attracted much 
interest when they were shown to the Swedes. 

Sweden has a long history of progress in art, 



rfleWi 



anew 






cn< 






1&77V 



Sample poster used by the British to induce the women to 
support the war. 



DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 85 

science and learning. Intellectually she com- 
pares with Russia as the brightest day does with 
the darkest night. From the standpoint of 
universal education she has greatly outranked 
both France and England for many decades. 
Her people, humiliated by the interference of 
trade through the British, had become restive 
and were openly declaring their opposition on 
the platform and through the press. Secret 
service men of both sides in the great war were 
on the ground to learn of the trend of affairs 
and, if possible, influence them so as to make 
them more favorable to the country they repre- 
sented. 

On the eighteenth of October I ticketed for 
Malmo by way of Norrkoping, taking the train 
from the central station. The seat opposite 
mine in the well-cushioned compartment was oc- 
cupied by a lady of middle age. She kept her 
suit case near her seat as if she feared it might 
become lost. 

Little was said at the beginning of the trip. 
She took observations through the window of the 
compartment, especially of the outlying districts 



86 



MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



of the city, a part of which is known as Gamle 
Stockholm, and seemed interested in the fields, 
gardens and forests. 
I busied myself reading in a guide of Sweden. 




Pointing my finger at her, I said: "You are a Eussian 
spy and the evidence is in your suit case. ' ' 

At length we began a conversation. She tried to 
convey the idea that she spoke no language but 
Swedish, but I soon discovered her accent to be 



DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 87 

that of a Slav and that she was able to converse 
freely in German. 

Pointing my finger at her, I said, "You are a 
Eussian spy and the evidence is in your suit 
case." 

To me it seemed that her face displayed all the 
colors of the rainbow. She threw up her hands 
excitedly, moving them up and down like a coun- 
try pedlar. 

"Sir," she said at length, "you surprise me, 
you offend my loyalty. Why accuse me for no 
other reason than that I am a Eussian?" 

"Calm yourself, madam," I replied. "Al- 
though I am an American, I know of your work 
and have you noted in a list of people who are 
practicing espionage. However, you need not 
fear me in the least. I am neutral and am inter- 
ested in you only as a matter of general informa- 
tion." 

Then I showed her my American passport and 
many letters of identification, in which manner 
she was led to confide in me. My guess had 
proven a correct one. 

She gave her name as Miss Michailowitsch 



88 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

and showed me some letters to bear out her state- 
ment. The work she was doing consisted of 
cooperating with others in watching Finland, 
where the men of military age had become rest- 
ive and many were emigrating. It was her 
special business to observe these people and, if 
possible, to learn who and how many were join- 
ing the German army in Poland and on the 
Dvinsk Eiver. 

I left the train at Norrkoping while Miss 
Michailowitsch went on to Malmo. At the time 
of leaving the train, I advised her to change 
her occupation, if she valued her life. This 
admonition elicited a bland smile. 

The next day I took the same train for south- 
ern Sweden, which is the best agricultural sec- 
tion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. 

At the seaport of Malmo, the southern outlet 
of Sweden, secret service men again turned at- 
tention to commercial lines rather than to a 
propaganda to create favor in public opinion 
for the entente allies. These spies studied the 
Swedish imports and exports as to kind, quan- 
tity, source and destination. Much of the 



DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 89 



coastal waters in this vicinity had been mined 
as a protection to trade, but a number of British 
submarines had found their way into the Baltic 
and were actively seeking to destroy the ship- 
ping between Germany and the ports of lower 
Sweden. 

Opposite the equestrian statue of Carl X., in 
the Stortorget, I entered Hotel Standard, at 
which I engaged quarters. Here and at other 
hotels, especially at Hotel Kramer and Hotel 
Savoy, were many secret agents of England and 
Germany, whose activities were not confined to 
Malmo but rather to the southern part of 
Sweden, including the ports of Goteborg, 
Trelleborg and Karlskrona. 

The customs house, an imposing structure of 
brick and stone, was busy in the affairs of trade 
with Denmark and Germany. At first sight the 
parcels and boxes which made up the great car- 
goes that were loading and unloading looked 
regular, but closer inspection convinced me, in 
the manner of the experience at the early stages 
of prohibition in Kansas, that the outside of a 
sealed package may be more innocent than the 



90 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

inside. Although I had some unavoidable 
doubts, I kept my own counsel and said nothing. 

Germany had possession of the great coal 
fields of France and Belgium, which she was 
working as extensively as they were worked in 
the time of peace, hence both France and Italy 
depended largely on England for fuel to keep 
the hearths warm and enable the factories and 
railways to operate. This was about all Eng- 
land could do in addition to supplying her own 
needs, but it was not so with the Germans. In- 
deed, Germany had coal to sell in large quan- 
tities, thanks to the employment of war-prison 
labor. Not only Sweden, Denmark and Norway 
were depending upon Germany for coal, but 
also Holland and Switzerland. 

This paved the way for an exchange of prod- 
ucts. Germany was very friendly to the Scan- 
dinavian countries and would not let them 
suffer, but in return she required certain quan- 
tities of produce, such as fish, oil, grain and 
textile products. This exchange element in the 
trade explains very largely the busy life I saw 
in the ports of the Scandinavian countries which 
I visited. 



DIETING NORWAY AND SWEDEN 91 

North of west from Malnio, across the Sound, 
is Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. The 
ride by steamer in the time of peace does not 
require over two hours, but this water was now 
protected by mines and nets, hence the cir- 
cuitous route necessary to evade danger length- 
ened the trip to four hours. 

The Sound is a busy water. On it float innu- 
merable steamers and many crafts of fishermen 
plying their art. The ride was pleasant, rather 
cold but not windy, and I reached the Danish 
capital just after night had called into use 
thousands of electric lights on the streets and 
along the famous Langelinie. 



X 

IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 

f |\BE steamer ran into port at Havnegade, 
A which is the landing place for the vessels 
crossing the Sound, and I made haste to Hotel 
Central, on Eaadhuspladsen. At this hotel and 
at general postal delivery I expected mail from 
America and from secret agents I had met at 
New York and at various places in Europe. The 
mailman was liberal and gave me many letters 
and packages, small and large, which reminded 
me of an American mail order house. Had I 
been in a country at war, where strangers were 
carefully watched, I would have been under no 
mild suspicion. 

At Hotel Central I found many guests from 
Germany and Austria-Hungary. Indeed, all 
the employees spoke German and much of the 
conversation heard at the tables was in that 
tongue. This is a very natural condition, a 



IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 93 

situation which I had expected before I reached 
the city, because Germany is nearer Denmark 
geographically than any other of the larger 
countries and the trade and intercourse between 
the two nations are very extensive. 

The first evening, after a hasty meal, I made 
a trip to the leading hotels, including the Bris- 
tol, the Cosmopolite, the Dagmar, the Palads, 
the Monopol and the Grand Hotel National. By 
this initial but rapid tour it was possible to lo- 
cate the places where strangers gather and to 
feel the pulse of commerce and public sentiment. 
My first impression was right : ' * Copenhagen 
is at present the Babel of travel and the Mecca 
of European secret service work. ' ' 

No introduction is needed in the best cafes 
and restaurants. When at the Wewel, the Al- 
hambra, the Grand National or any other of 
the high-class eating houses, the introduction 
may be personal. That is, if a lady or gentle- 
man is unaccompanied and you wish an ac- 
quaintance, all you need to do is to invite her 
or him to dine or attend theater with you. If 
appearances are favorable, and here they usu- 



94 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

ally are because only well-dressed people are 
admitted, the invitation generally is accepted. 
This is the custom of the country and is prac- 
ticed very extensively. 

It must be remembered, too, that the people 
as a whole are well accomplished in the art of 
conversation. They speak three or four lan- 
guages and know much of history and the 
themes of art and literature. The larger num- 
ber, both ladies and gentlemen, like some form 
of alcoholic beverage, chiefly wine and beer, 
and nearly all smoke; the ladies smoke ciga- 
rettes and the gentlemen almost universally use 
cigars. My first choice was coffee and my sec- 
ond choice was tea; this is as far as I could go 
on intoxicants, but I could match most of the 
Danes in the use of languages. 

When I was about to retire for the night, 
while on my way back to the hotel, I met a man 
who wanted to sell me a lead pencil. I pur- 
chased, but at the same time studied the expres- 
sion of his face, which seemed to tell a story of 
a different life than that of the street vendor. 
He limped while stepping on his right foot and 
carried a rather elegant looking cane. 




DEATH AND SORROW IN COPENHAGEN 

Two men hailed me at Raadhuspladeen and wanted to take 
my photograph. Being likeable fellows, I engaged them to take 
pictures in different parts of the city. These included one at 
the Hellig Aand Kirke (Holy Ghost Church), where the fine 
figure of Death and Sorrow is located. 

These men were spies. They were posing as photographers, 
but their business was to represent England in secret service 
work. This they admitted with unusual frankness and showed 
me pictures they had made of many freight transports. 

I told them I might as well appear in this picture as any- 
where else in Europe which, indeed, was a hotbed of death and 
sorrow. The monument represents the Mother lying in sorrow 
on the ground, while Death is hastening away with her Child in 
order to catch the next victim. 



(Opp. 95) 



IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 95 

The next morning I was ready to begin my 
study of the places where I was specially inter- 
ested, that is at the libraries, art galleries and 
museums, but these institutions were not open 
until eleven o'clock, hence I had several hours 
every morning and evening to interest myself 
in the effect of war upon the neutral countries. 

On Eaadhuspladsen I met several men who 
were taking pictures for travelers. They were 
agreeable looking fellows and I engaged them 
to take several views for me, including one of 
the monument known as Death and Sorrow, 
which is a fine bronze piece near the Hellig 
Aand Church. It was not long until I made the 
discovery that these men were spies. Indeed, I 
found spies disguised as street vendors, news- 
paper sellers, bootblacks, interpreters, guides 
and as workers in many other common callings. 
At the Bristol Hotel I met several spies to 
whom Mr. Fenwick had referred me while I 
was in New York. This gave spice to my 
leisure moments and stimulated interest in the 
war. 

After I had been in Copenhagen several days, 



96 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

late in the afternoon, I decided to go to the 
docks and shipping yards to take observations 
of the freight which was moving through the 
city. Here I discovered a man making nota- 
tions of cars which were either loading or un- 
loading. These cars were from the continent 
and were marked from different places, such as 
Bromberg, Dresden, Munich, Bautzen and other 
cities of Germany. 

Here was the clue that Denmark was trading 
extensively with the Central Powers. This spy 
was listing the cars and steamships engaged in 
this trade ; he was taking the names of the ships 
and cars and making a record of the commodi- 
ties in which trading was done. After observ- 
ing his work for some time, I made my presence 
known and found him to be the street vendor 
from whom I had purchased a lead pencil on 
my first evening in the city, but he was now 
posing as a railroad official and held his cane 
before him as he walked rapidly away. 

It did not require much time for the street 
vendor, who pretended to be lame as he leaned 
upon his cane, to dent the crown of his hat and 



IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 



97 



assume the more important attitude of a railway 
and steamboat inspector. He may have de- 
ceived others a long time, but I was on his trail 
and discovered his smart delusion much sooner 
than he expected. 




The spy who pretended to be a lame street vendor, but who 
afterward posed as a railway official and held his cane before 
him as he walked rapidly away. 

Great Britain had already notified Denmark 
that she would control the imports and exports 



98 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

of the Danes, that she would exercise the right 
of search on ships crossing the seas, and now a 
movement was on foot to study by secret meth- 
ods the trade in domestic productions with the 
view of ultimately controlling all the foreign 
commercial business of the country as well as 
the foreign commerce of Norway and Sweden. 

This is still further explained by the case of a 
Dane, Andrew Christiansen, who was pretend- 
ing to be a guide and interpreter, but who was 
employed by the British and their allies as a 
spy and detailed to make a record of the pas- 
sengers who were going out and coming into 
Copenhagen on the daily trains to and from 
Berlin and Hamburg. I met him many times 
and engaged him in conversation. He and a 
company of other secret service men were pro- 
mulgating the idea everywhere that Germany 
expected to invade and annex Denmark. 

London was living in the dark at night, fear- 
ing attacks by German aviators, and the Danes 
were being influenced to feel unfriendly to their 
Teuton neighbors as a means of resenting less 
vigorously the British encroachment on Danish 



IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 99 



commerce. Articles published from time to 
time in such newspapers as the Hovedstaden and 
the Berlingshe Tidende in spirit supported the 
work of several dozen secret service men em- 
ployed by the British allies in the Danish capi- 
tal to influence sentiment against Germany. 

Several times I invited a number of the spies 
that I met at the Bristol Hotel to accompany 
me to entertainments, including a certain John 
Denton, a friend of Mr. Fenwick, who went 
with me to the Scala Theater, where a comic 
opera known as Polsk Blod was presented. This 
gentleman entertained much and came in con- 
tact with many prominent Danes. 

I gave him the letter written by Mr. Fenwick 
at New York, but not before I made a copy of it, 
thinking this precaution would serve my pur- 
pose to an advantage elsewhere. Later, when 
I returned to New York, I secured stationery 
and had duplicate copies written on letterheads 
of Hotel Belmont, one of which is shown on 
another page of this book. 

Mr. Denton was profuse in publishing the 
charge that Germany expected to annex Den- 




FoftTY-SECOvn St. 
at Park Avenue 



B.LJ*. BATES. 




-^^Sa^jUa^ * ) . >j)S, 



s^^AX ^0>v^ Vv^ <*~&- A^R **Uo 



IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 101 

mark. He said: "In 1864 Germany forced 
Denmark to give np Schleswig-Holstein, which 
the Danes have not forgotten and will not forget 
until it is restored and in addition the Kiel 
Canal is annexed to Denmark." 

"On the other hand," said I, "many Danes 
think the greater crime against Denmark was 
committed in 1807, when the British destroyed 
the Danish fleet and burned most of Copen- 
hagen to make England instead of Denmark the 
mistress of the sea." 

"Yes," he answered, "but this is over a hun- 
dred years ago and since then England has had 
a change of heart. The British may, in order 
to starve Germany, make it unpleasant for Den- 
mark, but she will not do more to the Danes 
than to control their commerce." 

"So you think England has had a change of 
heart ! Your views do not agree with the boast 
of many English politicians who proclaim that 
Great Britain expects to conquer and control 
the earth. How about Canada, Australia, South 
Africa, Egypt and the remainder of the domain 
she is holding?" 



102 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

' ' 0, these comprise conquered territory and of 
right belong to her," he replied. 

' ' The United States has set an example to be 
emulated,' ' I said. "Our country took Cuba 
over only for so long a time as was necessary 
to enable the island to develop a safe and stable 
government. This is true likewise of the Philip- 
pines, which probably will become equally in- 
dependent within the next decade.' ' 

"That may be a good policy for a country 
which has no world-wide ambition, but England 
set out a century ago to control the commerce of 
the world and this policy she will maintain," he 
said. 

"But suppose," I replied, "the United States 
would unite with the neutral countries of Amer- 
ica and Europe in positive action against Great 
Britain for this interference with their trade, 
claiming they rightfully are entitled to and must 
have absolute freedom of the sea. ' ' 

' ' Then, ' ' said he, ' ' England may be compelled 
to back down, but the United States will not do 
it. Americans are money mad; they will sell 
their souls for money, and for this reason will 
not assume or maintain high ideals of justice." 



IN THE DANISH CAPITAL 103 

Continuing, I said: " America might place 
an embargo on the exportation of munitions of 
war, forbid floating war loans, censor the cable 
and telegram communications of the allies, and 
finally convoke a convention of neutral nations 
to retaliate against the British restrictions of 
trade. All these measures have been consid- 
ered in America. ' ' 

"All these are possible/ ' he replied, "but the 
entente allies do not fear America and will do 
as they think best and promote their own causes 
to the best advantage for themselves. England 
has the strongest navy in the world and will 
not permit any nation to surpass her or suc- 
cessfully compete with her in commerce on the 
high sea, not even America. President Wilson 
is expected to do little more than protest mildly 
against England so long as he can be induced by 
British friends in America to give his attention 
to German submarine warfare." 

This conversation is about an average of what 
was heard by those who came in contact with 
spies of the allies. On the other hand, German 
secret service men contended that their govern- 



104 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

ment considered it of interest to the Fatherland 
to protect the independence of Denmark. They 
claimed that the many islands, separated by 
navigable channels, which make up the kingdom 
of Denmark, are difficult to defend, and, for 
that reason, the country is a secure protection 
to the northern coast of Germany so long as it 
remains neutral. 

As a whole, Copenhagen was in the midst of 
great prosperity. The Nordisk Magasin and 
other great stores were well stocked with goods 
and trading was brisk. At the Borsen (Board 
of Trade) excitement was at fever heat as grain, 
meat and other produce rose or fell on the mar- 
ket. In short, the Danish capital had become 
the Mecca of trading, the center of travel and 
the heart of theaters and other amusements. 

After some time of interesting visits and con- 
versations, I left Copenhagen to go partly by 
train and partly by steamer to Berlin, making 
the trip to Germany by way of Warnemunde. 
This is the port on the Baltic Sea through which 
the German capital and the interior of Europe 
may be reached most conveniently. 



XI 

LIKE SMELLING POWDER 

rTIHE trade between Copenhagen and Berlin 
*- has been a large enterprise for many 
years. Two daily vestibuled trains carry the 
through passenger business, one of these leav- 
ing each city in the morning and reaching the 
other metropolis in the evening. 

About one hundred and fifty passengers were 
on each of these trains at the time I was making 
the trip. They consisted chiefly of people in- 
terested in business and included quite a num- 
ber who were leaving for America or returning 
to visit their old home. Few tourists were to 
be seen. As a student and writer, I appeared 
to be alone in my class. 

Denmark being made up largely of islands, 
the train crosses the first piece of land to Maas- 
nedo, where the passengers transfer to a boat 
and in about twenty minutes reach the village 

105 



106 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

of Ourehoved. Here they take a train for 
Gjedser, which is reached in half an hour, and 
then transfer to a larger steamer which carries 
them across an arm of the Baltic Sea to Ger- 
many. 

This trip impresses the traveler with the im- 
portance of international commerce, with the 
dependence that one nation has upon other peo- 
ples. It also affords an opportunity to see the 
wonderful and far-reaching preparations that 
had been made to defend the German coast 
against the enemy. On every hand were evi- 
dences of preparedness to repel an attack or an 
invasion; everywhere could be seen measures 
of protection. It gave the effect upon the mind 
that a civilian has when he hears the bursting 
of shells and smells the fumes of exploding 
powder. 

The steamship had hardly landed when a 
voice announced in clear tones, " Those taking 
the train for Hamburg are to enter first ; those 
going on the train for Berlin will wait until the 
Hamburg passengers have landed.' ' 

That meant a brief delay for me and I con- 



LIKE SMELLING POWDER 107 

eluded to utilize the time profitably. I observed 
that the officers spoke in the Plattdeutsch, that 
is in the dialect of North Germany, and, when 
they communicated in German, they used the 
clear tongue for which the Holstein people are 
noted. This gave me the hint that I would have 
no trouble in passing the very scrutinizing ex- 
amination which those who entered Germany 
at the time of war were required to undergo. 

Several years before I had a similar experi- 
ence at Winnipeg, where the Canadian govern- 
ment had stationed some soldiers to guard a 
part of the city in the time of local trouble. To 
pass through a part of the closed district, to be 
able to meet a person I wanted to see, it was 
necessary to win the good will of an officer. 

This officer was of Scottish descent, hence I 
planned to use a few sentences in the brogue 
of the Scots. The effect was magical. It 
caused the officer to open his eyes like the bosom 
of Loch Lomond and to give his permission for 
my passage. 

Instead of crowding forward and elbowing 
my way through the crowd at Warnemunde, I 



108 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

came near the last part of the line with my 
passport and hand baggage. When I reached 
the first officer of half a dozen who were con- 
ducting the examination, I said, "Na, hir spra- 
ken de Liit Plattdiitsch, und ick bin rekt tau 
Hus," meaning, " Surely, here the people speak 
Plattdeutsch, and I am really at home. ' ' 

After this the conversation was largely in the 
local dialect and I had no difficulty in entering 
the borders of the Fatherland. Indeed, the offi- 
cers, feeling assured of my mission of study and 
investigation, extended assistance by telling me 
of many places of interest that I should visit in 
Berlin and in the country along the line of my 
investigations. 

The train had become belated because of the 
examination and the delay would make me late 
at Berlin. At first I thought of stopping over- 
night at Warnemiinde, but learned that the town 
was a closed military camp, no stranger being 
permitted to enter the place without a permit 
from the authorities at the capital. I wanted 
to make the ride entirely by daytime, but, under 
the circumstances, boarded the train with the 
other passengers. 



LIKE SMELLING POWDER 109 



A favorable seat was assigned to me in one 
of the compartment cars. It was opposite a 
reservation occupied by a young lady, and I 
engaged her in conversation. She had come 
from New York and was on a trip to Ballen- 
stadt for a visit. From her I learned that the 
ladies had been ushered into private rooms for 
examination by female officers, who required 
them to remove their clothes. The examina- 
tions, from information secured at Christiania, 
were identical in this respect to those required 
in England. 

At first it seemed strange that both the per- 
son and the clothes as well as all the baggage 
were examined, but it was not long until I found 
proof that such precautions were necessary. 
This I learned by observing a Dane, an engi- 
neer, who occupied a seat near mine. He con- 
stantly held the thumb of the left hand across 
the palm and this attracted my attention. At 
first it occurred to me that he had a crippled 
limb or some slight defect, but soon I noticed 
that he was concealing something. 

I remained constantly with him. At the first 



110 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

opportunity I had to speak to him privately, 
which was not long, I inquired about his secret 
message. He became nervous and resented my 
impertinence. In this I did not blame him, but 
I felt sure he must either confide in me or de- 
stroy whatever he was concealing. 

He chose the former course and showed me 
his message in miniature. It proved to be a 
harmless note, a letter sent by a friend in 
Odense to a relative in Berlin, under the false 
impression that correspondence of friendship 
was prohibited. In fact, it was dangerous to 
conceal such a letter or anything else, but the 
letter itself was entirely proper and permissi- 
ble. 

I had not been in Germany many days until I 
learned from personal observation that some 
travelers I met professed friendship for Ger- 
many and in spite of their professions were 
false and dangerous enemies. To me it seemed, 
in view of this fact, that the authorities leaned 
rather on the side of leniency than on the side 
of severity. In all public places was the notice : 



LIKE SMELLING POWDER 111 



SOLDATEN 

VOESICHT IN GESPRACHEN 

SPIONENGEFAHR 



The translation is as follows : Soldiers, care- 
ful in conversations ; danger of spies ! 

That there was an invasion of spies and se- 
cret service men, mostly representing England 
and France, I learned soon after I reached the 
large cities of Germany. They were disguised 
in various ways, as laborers, students and pro- 
fessional and business men. At the Nordland, 
the Fiirstenhof, the Europaischerhof and other 
hotels I met many that I put on the suspicious 
list, but I evaded them lest they might draw me 
into trouble and annoyances. In this I chose 
the wiser course, as several Americans I met 
were innocently thrown into difficulties in this 
way. 



XII 

VISITS WITH CLAUS BEAVO 

rpHE restrictions on those who made applica- 
-*■ tion to visit the front, to inspect the forti- 
fications in the near-war zone and to see action 
in the trenches, had become very stringent when 
I reached Berlin. It was not so at the begin- 
ning of the war, when considerable latitude 
was given newspaper reporters and students 
of military tactics, but deception of professed 
friends and many aggravated instances of 
espionage caused the change of policy. 

Now the Oberhaupt Commando had absolute 
charge of all places considered important from 
a military or naval standpoint. Those who 
could make a satisfactory showing, who were 
trustworthy and had a reasonable purpose, re- 
ceived passes, but the examination was thor- 
ough and action in granting concessions was 
slow. 

112 



VISITS WITH CLAUS BRAVO 113 

I learned in Breslau, while in consultation 
with Hon. Harry G. Seltzer, the American con- 
sul, that the newspaper reporters from foreign 
countries had been greatly restricted or were 
barred from places of importance, where action 
was in progress or where supplies, such as pro- 
visions and ammunition, were stored. Those 
who were permitted to visit these places had 
difficulties in having their reports pass the veto 
of the censor. 

These circumstances had developed various 
methods in obtaining information in Germany 
as well as in England and elsewhere. One com- 
mon method was to visit the larger cities near 
the border, such as Breslau, Bromberg and 
Karlsruhe, there to learn as much as possible 
by conversing with the people and reading the 
newspapers. After that the wily reporter would 
make a trip to some neutral city, such as Am- 
sterdam or Copenhagen, where the reports 
were written and placed in the mails. This 
method had the advantage of escaping the cen- 
sor, the dates were changed in America, and the 
American reader was delighted with something 
sensational ! 



114 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

I had been in Berlin more than three weeks, 
had consulted with the American ambassador, 
Hon. James W. Gerard ; with Mr. James 'Don- 
nell Bennett and Mr. Eobert J. Thompson, 
American newspaper reporters ; with members 
of the German parliament, and many officials 
in civic and military positions, including Herr 
Gottlieb von Jagow, the German secretary of 
foreign affairs, before I obtained privileges to 
visit prison camps, border fortifications and 
fields in the east where action had destroyed 
cities and devastated the country. 

After I had traveled to inspect the points 
which I wanted to visit, I began to plan to learn 
from first hand experience the strange and hor- 
rible action and destruction in war. It was my 
purpose to meet those who had fought at the 
front and had been in the thick of the fight at 
noted engagements. In this manner I obtained 
information by personal inspection and at the 
same time saw safely by proxy what would 
otherwise be dangerous and impossible. 

A trip on business to Zehlendorf, a thriving 
suburb of Berlin, where I had gone to examine 



VISITS WITH CLAUS BRAVO 115 

a residence that had been advertised for sale, 
brought me in contact with a number of soldiers 
who had fought both in the east and the west 
and who were home on a furlough because of 
wounds. I cultivated the acquaintance of these 
soldiers, which required several trips to Zehlen- 
dorf, as it was necessary to win their confidence. 
The story of one of these, Claus Bravo, so 
strange and interesting, impressed me greatly. 
I recite it here as he confided it to me, omitting 
nothing, not even the details, which were then 
prohibited by military restrictions. 

Claus Bravo had reached the age of thirty 
when the war began. He had been trained as 
a soldier, but was engaged in the business of a 
building contractor, and volunteered to serve 
in the artillery against Eussia. In the memora- 
ble campaign of the Mazurian Lakes, which 
made the name of General von Hindenburg his- 
torical, he was awarded the Iron Cross for 
bravery in action. Later he took part in the 
assaults upon Warsaw, Novogeorgievsk and 
Brest-Litovsk. In the latter he was wounded 
in the left shoulder and captured. 



116 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

The capture of Claus Bravo was not the re- 
sult of miscalculation by German leadership, 
for the campaign against the entrenchments 
and the solid walls and abutments of Brest- 
Litovsk had been planned and executed with 
the utmost precision. The largest siege guns 
ever employed in modern warfare, known 
among the Germans as "Big Berthas,' ' so- 
called from Bertha Krupp, daughter of the late 
Alfred Krupp of Essen, were on the field of 
action. These huge steel monsters with great 
gaping mouths, loaded with tons of steel and 
explosive bullets, were fired by means of wire 
cables, attached at one end to the trigger of the 
cannon and at the other end to a station in the 
ground. Claus Bravo and his comrades, after 
charging the great cannon, found safety from 
the sudden explosion by disappearing in the 
underground stations, where they pulled the 
wires and thereby caused the machines to belch 
forth. Had they remained on the surface, near 
the cannon, the sudden rupture would have 
destroyed their nerves and made them deaf and, 
perhaps, blind and insane. 




BATTLE FIELD HYENAS 

The battle fields are infested by spies and thieves. These 
two classes do not work together, but as separate and distinct 
classes. 

The spies are most numerous before and during engage- 
ments, when they endeavor to learn of the strength, equipment 
and plans of the enemy. In many cases they remain on or near 
the field of action after the battle, hoping to gather information 
which will aid in further action. 

The thieves commonly follow the engagements to steal food 
and clothing. The illustration shows a number of spies and 
thieves that were captured in Russia. No quarters are given to 
such captives. 



(Opp. 117) 



VISITS WITH CLAUS BRAVO 117 

Overhead, like a mere speck of dust, hovered 
the flotilla of taubes and double deckers which 
signaled to the men at the big guns. These 
flying crafts could be seen only by means of 
powerful telescopes, but their signals, given 
by throwing out milk-colored dust, had indi- 
cated the effective results of the explosions as 
they struck terror to the fortifications of Brest- 
Litovsk. 

The center of the city was fully twenty miles 
away, but every few seconds after the great 
cannon belched forth a miniature earthquake 
was caused when tons of explosives fell in its 
midst. Those near one of these projectiles 
when it fell, although not even struck by a frag- 
ment, were killed or made insane by the terrific 
explosion. Under this high pressure of the 
Teutonic attacks the czar's forces were soon de- 
feated and compelled to retreat toward the 
marshes of the Pripet, which was the only ave- 
nue left open for escape. 

Scouting lancers had made numerous incur- 
sions into Russian territory, advancing far be- 
yond the line of safety, so eager had they been 



118 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

to find the best highways on which the army 
could advance. In a thicket of willows near a 
small stream, well sheltered and hidden by pine 
and deciduous forests, they suddenly came upon 
a camp of spies and thieves. 

These pests and leeches of the battle fields 
were brought to the camp where Claus Bravo 
was quartered. Among the captured articles 
were many letters and other communications 
which were employed as evidence against those 
who had been charged with espionage. The 
evidences of field vandalism included parts of 
ears and fingers cut from slain soldiers. These 
parts contained rings and were so enlarged that 
the jewelry could not be easily removed, hence 
parts of the body were taken to secure the rings. 

The capture of Claus Bravo, as stated before 
in this chapter, was not the result of miscalcula- 
tion, but, instead, resulted from a lure employed 
by the Eussians to mislead a number of 
wounded Teutons. These wounded soldiers had 
been placed in a farm home that had become 
greatly damaged from Bussian.shot before the 
Slavs had retreated. On the roof of the build- 



VISITS WITH CLAUS BRAVO 119 

ing, in order to mislead the latter, several fig- 
ures had been placed as a target for unfriendly 
attack. Here the wounded were to remain until 
rescued with an auto-ambulance by the Eed 
Cross corps. 

Before the rescuing party could arrive, a de- 
tachment of soldiers in German uniforms, wear- 
ing the familiar spiked and helmeted caps, was 
seen in the distance. They were approaching 
the building and fired several volleys of shots 
at the figures on the roof as they approached. 
However, the approaching soldiers were not 
Germans, but, instead, they were Eussians who 
had put on the field-gray uniforms of the kai- 
ser J s men. No one within returned the fire, 
knowing that defense and escape of the wounded 
soldiers were out of the question. 

When the Eussians discovered whom they 
had captured, they ordered the wounded sol- 
diers out of the building and set it on fire. Those 
unable to walk were left on the greensward to 
shift for themselves or to die, depending upon 
their condition, and the others were taken cap- 
tive for ultimate transportation to Siberia. 
Claus Bravo was among the prisoners. 



XIII 
THE IMPEISONMENT AND EELEASE 

fTHHE march of Claus Bravo, wounded in the 
-*■ shoulder and carrying his left arm in a 
support, was difficult. At last, after several 
days of dreary and tiresome walking with little 
rest and scant food, he reached Pinsk, where he 
was quartered for two weeks in a barn. The 
roof leaked when it rained and the raw, moist 
wind blew the larger part of the time, entering 
freely through the cracks in the walls. His bed 
consisted of straw; the covering was nothing 
more than three sacks of gunny cloth sewed 
together with wrapping cord. 

Although this habitation in itself was bad, 
being damp and cold, it was made doubly worse 
by the large number of soldiers, many ill and 
severely wounded, who were crowded together. 
The day seemed long and dreary, but the night, 
disturbed by the groans and sobs of sick and 

120 



IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE 121 

dying men, was a hideous torture. Nearly 
every morning one or more men who had died 
in the night were dragged out to be buried in the 
potters 9 field. 

Dirt, disease and vermin were thinning the 
ranks of the prisoners. Many who came well 
and strong had grown sick; few had sufficient 
vigor of constitution to endure cold and neglect 
very long. They needed suitable food, medical 
attention and protection against exposure and 
vermin. 

It seemed a relief to Claus Bravo to be taken 
from the barn at Pinsk and placed on a train 
which was destined for the prison camps of far- 
away Siberia, although the reports that had 
come from that haven of prisoners were not 
favorable. Many had died of want and exposure 
in the cold atmosphere ; others had been made 
invalids while at work in the forests and mines 
of the far north. However, any kind of a change 
seemed to be better than to remain in the barn 
at Pinsk. 

Although thousands of refugees had flown 
from Poland and surged eastward as the army 



122 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

of the czar retreated, there were still innumer- 
able hordes fleeing to escape the battle line 
that was steadily falling back before the victo- 
rious march of the Germans. Many peasants, 
with carts drawn by cows and oxen, were seen 
along the roadsides in the flight toward Moscow 
and eastward in the direction of the Ural Moun- 
tains. The freight cars were filled with fleeing 
women and children who could not walk. 
Families were separated and scattered without 
the slightest prospect of ever again becoming 
united. Children and even babes were seen 
wandering alone in search of food and shelter. 
Claus Bravo was assigned to one of twenty 
freight cars that made up the train. His place 
was on a thin bed of straw at one end of the car. 
Every available inch of space on the floor was 
occupied by a human form, in a car that had 
recently been used to transport swine. The 
movement of the train was subject to the trans- 
portation of soldiers and war supplies to the 
battle line, hence the progress eastward was 
slow and uncertain. Sometimes the train was 
in motion only half an hour, when it halted to 



IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE 123 

permit a limited or special train to pass, and 
sometimes it ran long distances, but the speed 
ahead never was fast or safe. 

The cars, being of a poor class of Eussian 
freight wagons, made the transportation in- 
humanly torturous to the sick and wounded, 
which, in fact, were the only passengers. Men 
and women groaned with pain, hunger and 
thirst. The water, what little was obtainable, 
was insanitary and the food was scarce and 
unwholesome. Sometimes raw meat, sometimes 
hard, black bread, and sometimes whole, un- 
cooked rye and wheat were offered to those who 
were already slowly dying of want and starva- 
tion. 

A Jewish woman who had given birth to a 
child had died in the night. No one knew of her 
death, as all on board were so depressed with 
pain and want of food that they knew little aside 
from their own misery. The condition of this 
unfortunate woman and child, cold in death, was 
not discovered until two days after death had 
relieved them of their suffering. A brakeman 
was apprised of these facts at the next stopping 



124 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

place, but he paid no attention to the dead bodies 
and the train moved on in its woeful course. 

Ultimately, after it became apparent that the 
officers of the train would give no attention to 
the corpses, it was planned to expunge them 
secretly from the car. Two men cleared the 
way to the side door of the freight car and 
dragged the bodies forward. As the train rolled 
onward at a place where a long curve occurred, 
at the time the engine and the men on the loco- 
motive were hidden from view, the dead bodies 
were hurled from the train. Moving with the 
momentum of the train, the body of the mother, 
deflected from the usual course by the force 
that threw it out, became lodged against an 
embankment of the railway right-of-way, prob- 
ably to be the prey of hungry wolves that infest 
the woods of Smolensk. 

Every day of the long slow ride to Moscow 
was as eventful as the beginning of the trip. 
Children were born and many people died from 
neglect and without medical attention. Those 
who survived found great multitudes of refu- 
gees, in rags and want, at the Moscovite city on 



IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE 125 

the Moskva River. Thousands, it is true, had 
passed further eastward in the stream of people 
who had left their homes and had flown before 
the invading Teutons since the early spring of 
1915, but thousands more were coming by the 
trains and highways leading into the city. 

Diplomatic negotiations between Germany 
and Russia, through the kindly offices of 
Sweden, had reached the point whereby wounded 
prisoners, whose injuries were such that they 
could under no conditions return to the field of 
action, might be exchanged. This number in- 
cluded Claus Bravo. Although his wound at 
first appeared slight, the want of medical atten- 
tion and the lack of proper care and food while 
in transit to Moscow had made his case very 
dangerous. Accordingly, he was returned by 
way of Petrogracl, through Finland and along 
the eastern shore of the Gulf of Bothnia, to 
Haparanda, Sweden, where he was exchanged 
for an incapacitated Russian prisoner who had 
been captured in the campaign against Riga. 

Finally, after serving his country with the 
determination that drove the Slav out of Ger- 



126 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

many and far east to the Dvinsk and the 
Dnieper, after an nnusnal experience of capture, 
imprisonment and exchange, he returned to his 
friends a sick and incapacitated man. I listened 
with a never-failing interest to his narrations 
of the deeds and experiences that only war can 
make possible. 

The last time I visited Zehlendorf and walked 
with Claus Bravo through the beautiful city 
park of tall pines, which nowhere are more 
majestic, I asked him to tell me what he thought 
to be the reason why the Germans had been so 
remarkably successful in the great struggle, 
driving armies before them in decisive battle- 
fields on all the fronts. 

He took my hand in his and said : ' ' The help- 
ing hand of God, which, inspiring faith and 
hope, called every Teuton to the defense of the 
Fatherland and guided him at all times in the 
tide of events; every German state from the 
Memel to the Ehine, from the North Sea to the 
Bavarian Alps, rallied her sons and every 
mother supported them in prayer. This faith 
and hope, these prayers, this unity and brother- 



IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE 127 

hood of purpose common to the Germans, while 
the enemies disputed and quarreled among 
themselves, won the fields in the east and west 
and defeated the foe in a thousand charges. The 
Germans dare and do; therefore they have 
turned failure to success, and, as Bismarck said : 
'We Germans fear God; otherwise, none in the 
world. ' " 

These were the parting words of Claus Bravo. 
The more I thought of what he said, the more 
I become convinced of the courage of the 
German nation and her purpose in maintaining 
her national integrity. The following lines are 
not my words, but they were written to embody 
the thoughts spoken by this faithful defender 
of the Teutonic eagles with whom I had spent 
many interesting hours : 

THERE IS NO HOME 

There is no home in all the German land 

That has not felt the presence of God's helping hand, 

In guiding through the course of time and tide 

And giving faith and hope which still within abide. 



128 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

There is no home from Memel to the Rhine 
Which did not send a sword out to the fighting line, 
In which a mother's heart did not in prayer yearn 
For vict'ry and the safety of the son's return. 

It is this faith, still linked with earnest prayer, 
Which nerved the German hosts to do and dare, 
It is this hope which swells within the breast 
That held the field both in the east and west. 

While others doubted and by quarrels were rent, 
The German eagles, still in their course unbent, 
Struck terror to the heart of yielding foe 
And laid him in a thousand charges low. 

No voice is known within the German tongue 
Which in the War of Worlds defeat has sung, 
For all the voices echo out anew 
That victory comes to those who dare and do ! 



XIV 

SECRET SERVICE MEN AT WARSAW 

rpHE shortest trip from Berlin to Warsaw is 
*■ by way of Bromberg and Thorn, but I chose 
the route going through Breslau-Oppeln-Czesto- 
chowa, the last mentioned town being in Russia, 
which takes the traveler through Skierniewice 
and enters Warsaw from the southwest. In 
returning, I chose the route Skieraiewice- 
Alexandrowa, which, in Germany, is the line 
Thorn-Bromberg-Schneidemiihle-Berlin. 

This route permits the traveler to see much 
of the farming districts in eastern Germany 
and a large part of Poland, which, by the way, 
is no mean ambition in the time of war. Here 
as nowhere else is exemplified the great faith 
the Germans had in the soil as a mainstay of 
success. They had gone into partnership with 
nature to work out their salvation. 

All the fine forests of pine and oak, forestry 

9 129 



130 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

being a fixed industry, were intact from the 
waste of war. Indeed, not a single trace of cut- 
ting was observed until the train entered 
Poland, where the ravages of battle had swept 
through the forests like a cyclone, but only in 
streaks or belts. The country as a whole showed 
little cutting, except for repairs of bridges and 
buildings that had been damaged or destroyed. 
In some sections were establishments for the 
manufacture of wood alcohol, which to some 
extent took the place of gasoline and benzine in 
automobiles. 

The cultivated lands were either green with 
growing winter rye and wheat or were plowed 
and harrowed ready to receive the seed in 
spring. Where the husband was away at war, 
the wife and children harvested the crop and 
planted for the coming year, or the neighbors 
came to their assistance. In many fields I saw 
prisoners, under the direction of soldiers, 
working with the ardor of a Maud Muller, no 
doubt thinking of the sad words, ' i It might have 
been. ' ' 

Germany is capable of producing about 



SECRET SERVICE MEN AT WARSAW 131 

ninety-two per cent, of her food products in the 
time of peace. War developed new economic 
requirements and she was utilizing her 
resources to meet them by putting the plowshare 
into every roadside susceptible of cultivation, 
not only in Germany, but also in the occupied 
lands of France, Belgium, Eussia and Servia. 
Although everybody had plenty to eat, all the 
grain, meat, vegetables, nuts and milk were con- 
served to furnish the greatest possible support. 

My entrance into the Polish capital was with- 
out formality. I went at once to Hotel Eom, 
where I left my hand baggage, and then reported 
at the police station. The fact that I had an- 
nounced myself as a literary writer (Schrift- 
steller) seemed to entitle me to more than ordi- 
nary courtesies. 

In the afternoon of my first day in the city, 
while near the main building of the university, 
I met a young man who was walking leisurely. 
He was holding a cane and was resting his chin 
upon his right hand. 

Not long afterward, in an angular street near 
by, I saw a person who reminded me of the young 



132 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

man I had met shortly before. His pants seemed 
to be made of the same kind of woolen goods, but 
his hat and coat appeared different. 





This young man had a coat with two sides suitable for 
outside wear. 



The following day I met the same person and 
took the liberty to speak to him. In the course 
of time I learned that he was a secret service 



SECRET SERVICE MEN AT WARSAW 133 



man and had been detailed to watch a number 
of strangers who were sojourning in the city. 
Those who were under surveillance, I learned 
soon after, included me as well as several guests 
at Hotel Rom. 

This young man had a coat with two sides suit- 
able for outside wear. When one was exposed, 
he looked like a student, and in the other he had 
the appearance of a newspaper seller. He was 
one of many secret service men in civilian clothes 
who were doing police duty and detective work. 

After that, when I met a person on the street, 
I seldom answered an inquiry or engaged in 
conversation. I refused to buy newspapers ex- 
cept the Warschauer Zeitung, the official Ger- 
man newspaper. 

This policy put me squarely on the safe side. 
I went about my studies and investigations 
alone, and when I wanted information I asked a 
policeman. This appeared to be the wiser 
course in a city whose government had recently 
been changed under military compulsion. 

The Russians had destroyed by fire some of 
the smaller stations before they retreated from 



134 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

Warsaw, but the Hauptbahnhof (central 
station) showed little evidence of battle. Before 
it were many cabs and carriages drawn by- 
horses, but automobiles were not available for 
travelers, as they had been taken away by the 
Eussians, or were serving military purposes for 
the Germans. 

Here and there were evidences of shot and 
shell in buildings and pavements, some of the 
latter having large ruptures from bombs, but as 
a whole the damage to the city was not great. 
The greatest destruction was seen in the fine 
bridge across the Weichsel (Vistula), which 
unites Praga with Warsaw. However, a pon- 
toon bridge was laid across the river and carried 
a large pedestrian and vehicle trade. 

General von Beseler, the conqueror of Ant- 
werp and Novogeorgievsk, was at the head of 
the civil government for all Poland. The 
burgerwehr (civil guard), made up of young 
Poles in civilian clothes, were responsible for 
order in the city and reported to the German 
administration. Few soldiers and policemen 
were on duty in the streets, where order was 



SECRET SERVICE MEN AT WARSAW 135 

perfect. The language spoken was largely 
Polish, but German was heard extensively, 
especially among the Jews and the educated 
Poles. 

The imperial castle of Eussia, a large but 
simple structure, was the seat of the general 
government. It contained a few holes where 
the walls were penetrated by Eussian bullets, 
fired from Praga, but as a whole it was in good 
condition. No spies were in evidence here or 
at the hotels, as the number of strangers was 
very limited and those who entered the city 
were examined and looked after with the utmost 
care. It was impossible to visit strategic places 
without permits. Such permits could be 
obtained only from the general administration, 
and, to obtain them, much time and considerable 
political support were required. 

Instruction of children in Polish was pro- 
hibited by Eussia, even by private tutors in the 
homes under penalty of fifty rubles fine for each 
offense, but the German administration had 
placed the teaching of Polish on the free list. 
The university and many schools had been 



136 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

opened, both for German and Polish, and the 
theaters and other amusements were open to 
both these nationalities as well as to the Jews. 

On Miodowa Strasse, one of the leading 
thoroughfares of the city, was the seat of the 
great German daily newspaper, the Warschauer 
Zeitung. In this periodical appeared daily the 
announcement of twenty playhouses. From the 
list I copied such well-known plays as the Jewish 
Friend, Carmen, Lohengrin, Barber of Seville, 
Captain Dreyfus and Cricket on the Hearth. 
The prices ranged from two marks to six marks. 

At such hostelries as Hotel Eom and Hotel 
Polonia, two of the leading taverns, it was pos- 
sible to eat all an epicure would want at about 
two marks per meal of four courses, about 
forty-five cents. The money spent at the eating 
houses and the theaters would not indicate 
poverty, although much want was experienced 
by the poor. Women and children were work- 
ing at almost every kind of employment, — in the 
railway shops, on the streets and electric cars, 
at the shipping docks, — and many were depend- 
ing on help from abroad. Often mention was 



SECRET SERVICE MEN AT WARSAW 137 

made of America, where large sums of money 
were collected by friends of the Jews and Poles. 
This benevolent support was already beginning 
to reach Poland and the people were very thank- 
ful for it. 

I had with me a number of American, German 
and Swedish letters of identification, including 
several written by men prominent in the educa- 
tional affairs of the United States. These 
proved very helpful in securing admission to 
the most prominent places, especially the 
academies and institutions of higher learning. 

It was a source of much gratification to me to 
observe the eagerness with which both young 
and old were taking hold of the work in educa- 
tional lines. The people had been deprived to 
a very large extent of this privilege since 1772, 
when Poland became Russian, and now they 
were beginning the great effort which is to re- 
build the country on the line of larger growth 
in mental power. 

After some time of more than usual activity, 
visiting the university, libraries and museums, 
my inclination was to return to Berlin rather 



138 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



orricc or thc president 



pmke ICnmersity 
Pes Molnea 



September 9, 1915, 



To Whom This Concerns:- 

This is to certify that I have 
for many years known Mr. Bernhart P. Hoist, 
of Boone, Iowa, as one of the leading citi- 
zens of this state. Mr. Hoist Is aggressive 
in his civic relationships, and is considered 
one of the best citizens of our commonwealth* 
He has taken a leading part in educational 
and political matters, and is recognized 
everywhere as a man of force. I have very 
great pleasure in commending him to any 
with whom he may come in contaot in his 
travels in this and foreign countries. 



Very respectfully yours. 

President. 

Copy of the letter written by President Hill M. Bell. 



SECRET SERVICE MEN AT WARSAW 139 

than venture farther east or north. The country 
necessarily was thoroughly policed with Ger- 
mans and trustworthy Jews and Poles, and 
movement from place to place was impossible 
without the most careful scrutiny of the officials. 
Strangers reported daily at the police stations 
nearest their residences and their movements, 
both going and returning, were made a matter 
of record. This was not out of place and no 
one complained of such supervision, as caution 
is no more than a reasonable requirement in the 
time of war. 

All the regularly scheduled trains were run- 
ning in Germany, but they were subject to the 
movement of trains carrying troops, supplies 
and provisions to the front. Secret service men, 
who worked in harmony with the police, had 
absolute knowledge of every stranger who came 
to Warsaw, from the time he came until he went, 
and he was frequently observed and watched 
without being conscious of the scrutiny these 
officers were exerting over him. 

The customs duties existing before the war 
had not been disturbed. At Alexandrowa, on 



140 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

the German-Polish border, each passenger was 
examined with the usual formalities common to 
customs officers. The examination was not 
severe, although the officials were sufficiently 
observing to allow nothing to pass unnoticed. 

In Poland I was impressed by the satisfaction 
with which the inhabitants looked upon the Ger- 
man occupation of the country and the region 
stretching northward to the Baltic Sea, an ex- 
panse of about 113,500 square miles. The spirit 
of approval was shown by the fact that many 
Polish citizens, including Poles and Jews, had 
joined the German army and were fighting in 
the trenches to help free their country from 
Eussian control, favoring independence but pre- 
ferring any other government to that of the 
czar. 



XV 
THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 

\ X 7HEN I returned to Berlin from the east, I 
* * engaged quarters at Pension Stern, a 
pleasant place on Unter den Linden. The out- 
look from the front' window enabled me to see 
all of that famous thoroughfare, from the 
statue of Frederick the Great to the Branden- 
burger Tor. The panorama included the vacant 
French embassy, the Cafe Victoria, the main 
building of the University of Berlin and the 
Dom Kirche in the distance. 

I had returned to the capital city to visit the 
museums, libraries, art galleries and palaces of 
Berlin as well as the suburbs of Spandau, 
Charlottenburg and Potsdam. It was my pur- 
pose to study life at the capital as well as to see 
the military side of the war in the German 
metropolis, including the great prison camp at 
Doberitz. 

141 



142 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

At the reading rooms of the Chicago Daily 
News, on Unter den Linden, I found many- 
American and English periodicals and went 
there frequently to peruse them. Several times 
I met at this place a dainty lady who spoke 
German like a Bavarian and English with the 
(ze) accent of a Parisian. This lady I learned 
to know as Miss Julia Bross and I put her on 
my list of possible spies. 

She accepted pleasantly my invitation to take 
dinner at Cafe Victoria, where she drank coffee 
and smoked a cigarette while I labored over a 
cup of tea as a final course in a long list of eat- 
ables. Her home was in Denmark, which was 
evidenced by numerous letters which she car- 
ried, and she was in the city to teach French 
and study German. 

The story of the dainty dame was well 
planned, but I doubted her. She was a spy and 
was on dangerous footing. With apologies to 
Bret Harte, I wrote in my diary : 

That for ways that are dark 

And for tricks that are vain 
The female spy is peculiar, 

Which the same I would rise to explain. 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 143 



It was not difficult to escape notice in Berlin. 
The strangers reported to police headquarters 
in the district of residence as soon as they ar- 
rived, or the day following, and reported again 
the day before departure, stating when and 
where they were going. Aside from this 
requirement there was no supervision. 

All the theaters were carrying announcements 
in the daily newspapers. Those who desired 
could witness such plays as Hamlet, Mary 
Stuart, Lohengrin, Tannhauser, Maria Theresa, 
Antony and Cleopatra, Parsifal and many comic 
operas and moving picture shows. 

Tuesdays and Fridays were "meatless days," 
but eggs and fish were abundant. Nothing was 
fried in fat on Mondays and Thursdays, 
although every kind of meat and by-foods were 
on the bill of fare and were prepared by cooking 
or broiling. There were no restrictions on Sun- 
days, Wednesdays and Saturdays, when the 
voluptuous follower of Epicurus could eat 
without limitations. What had been done to 
limit the consumption of certain foods did not 
indicate a scarcity. On the other hand, it em- 



144 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

bodied a scheme to induce regularity and system 
in the habits of life which would conserve the 
supply of food and likewise promote the public 
health. 

What had become known as "high prices' ' 
were not excessive, but, instead, meant the 
maximum rates to which the dealers in food 
stuffs were limited. That is, the market price 
for eggs was sixty cents per dozen, fish were 
fifteen cents per pound and potatoes were forty- 
eight cents per bushel. These are samples of 
the maximum prices and dealers could sell for 
less but not for more. As a whole the cost of 
living was less than in America for the reason 
that the money system is different and wages in 
Europe are based upon economical conditions 
which differ from those prevailing in American 
countries. 

The city was full of soldiers, — at churches, in 
theaters, at restaurants, on the streets, in short, 
everywhere were soldiers. Life was no depar- 
ture from the usual. The shops were full of 
goods and everybody was doing business in the 
even tenor of his way. The sound of martial 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 145 

music, the marching of soldiers and the flutter 
of many German, Bulgarian, Turkish and 
Austria-Hungarian flags in public places were 
the only reminders that war was in progress. 

On a train of the Stadtbahn (city railway) I 
went to Doberitz, where I made a complete tour 
of the military camp, including the prison yards, 
the military drill grounds and the field of avia- 
tion. The clear sky was dotted with many flying 
machines, including taubes, biplanes and Zeppe- 
lins, making the district buzz with their rapid- 
working machinery. 

Toward evening I wended my way from the 
prison yards to the depot, about a half mile, 
walking slowly over the sandy tract. When I 
arrived at the station I was surprised to find 
that Miss Bross was among the passengers who 
were waiting to return to the city. 

The village of Doberitz was nothing more 
than a wayside station before the war. In the 
vicinity are tracts of very sandy land, particu- 
larly toward the south, and for this reason it 
was chosen to be the center of prison life, the 
light soil and rolling surface making the region 

10 



146 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

quite sanitary. Although the place is not im- 
portant from an industrial standpoint, it is one 
of the most talked of and frequently visited 
suburbs of Berlin. 

Miss Bross had reached the place by a differ- 
ent train than the one by which I came. She had 
been busy in the sunlight, she said, enjoying the 
open sky and the warm, autumnal breezes. 

To me her mission at Doberitz appeared very 
different. It seemed that she had no interest in 
the prison camp, that to her the sanitation and 
employment of prisoners was a blank book, but 
everything I mentioned about the drill of sol- 
diers and the maneuvers of flying machines 
aroused her interest. To the one she was blind 
and to the others she was wide awake and far- 
seeing. The difference in her feeling on these 
topics deepened my suspicion that she was prac- 
ticing a clever game of espionage. 

I had taken a seat beside her on a bench in the 
railway station and began to study her face. 
She was alert and cunning, but her attitude was 
vague and evasive. 

"The Germans have a wonderful system of 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 147 

war-prison camps/ ' I said as a means to begin 
a general conversation. 

"Why? Why wonderful ?" 

"In the first place, they capture the enemy 
and take him to a debusing tank, an establish- 



FAHRKARTEN 




She was alert and cunning, but her attitude was 
vague and evasive. 

ment that cost not less than $10,000, where 
bathing removes the vermin with which soldiers 
are infested. I say soldiers are infested, because 
the trench life of modern warfare is peculiarly 



148 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

favorable to the development of suctorial para- 
sitic insects. 

"I found the prison camp wonderfully com- 
plete in modern facilities, such as bathing, heat- 
ing, ventilation, waterworks, sewerage and other 
appliances that make life worth while. The 
prisoners do their own work, including cooking, 
baking, cleaning, mending, washing, ironing and 
all other household duties. In this work they are 
directed by competent supervisors at every 
stage. No one is free from work at any time, ex- 
cept when he sleeps or is busy with personal 
duties. 

"Not only this, but a large per cent, of the 
prisoners have definite employment day after 
day under the direction of the state. They work 
on sewers, railways, canals, buildings and other 
improvements. The regular union scale of 
wages is allotted the prisoner per day, of which 
one third is paid the worker and the remainder 
is retained by the state for his support. In this 
way the thousands of prisoners in Germany are 
largely self-supporting. ' ' 

What I said was news to Miss Bross. She had 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 149 

studied the village and its environments in the 
light of a strategic military camp. It was her 
object to learn what the place signified as a point 
of defense against an invasion. She was not con- 
cerned in anything else at Doberitz. 

When the express train rolled into the station, 
I was ready to board it without delay. The even- 
ing was pleasant and the train moved rapidly 
toward the metropolis. Miss Bross alighted at 
Potsdamer Platz, while I went as far as Fried- 
rich Strasse. 

My purpose in Berlin was well defined. I was 
studying to revise works of reference on war 
topics, and my study hours were only from 
eleven in the morning until three in the after- 
noon, which included the time when the public 
institutions were open. This gave me ample 
opportunity to carefully investigate the secret 
service work, including that of Miss Bross, 
which I had decided to study. She looked upon 
me as an American of English (Australian) 
birth and spoke freely about her experiences in 
Berlin as well as in Denmark. 

Several times I met Miss Bross at the reading 



150 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

rooms of the Chicago Daily News, where she 
observed the news columns and editorials of the 
German-American newspapers with special in- 
terest. Near the last of November she told me 
she had decided to go home to Denmark on the 
third of December. By this time I had pur- 
chased passage to New York and left for Copen- 
hagen the same morning. 

After luncheon on the railway diner, Miss 
Bross seemed worried about the examination 
at Warnemiinde, where German officers in- 
spected the baggage and person of the passen- 
gers. This examination, owing to much espion- 
age, had been greatly intensified. 

' ' What do you think of the case of Miss Edith 
Cavel!?" she asked, "I mean the nurse who was 
executed as a spy in Belgium by the Germans." 

1 l This case," I answered, "is an unusual one. 
Miss Cavell had the utmost confidence of the 
German officers, who granted her extraordinary 
privileges as a nurse, while she busied herself 
most of the time organizing a band of spies to 
operate against the German army in France. ' ' 

"Yes, that is true; but she was a woman 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 151 

who had done some good and her life should 
have been spared. At least they think so in 
France and England where funds are being 
raised to build monuments to her memory. ' ' 

"That seems to be the policy in France and 
England because the politicians are endeavor- 
ing to mold public opinion more strenuously 
against Germany. But both countries estab- 
lished a precedent by executing German 
women as spies. This is true likewise of the 
Belgians, who executed Julia von Wauterghem 
as a spy at Louvain in 1914." 

This answer perplexed Miss Bross, but she 
replied at length, "The good people do seems 
to count little in actual life. Miss Cavell was 
the means of relieving the pain of the sick and 
aiding many wounded to recover. ' ' 

"On the other hand," said I, "Miss Cavell 
admitted that she knew of at least two hundred 
and fifty Belgian civilians whose release had 
been secured by her intrigues. They had joined 
the allies to fight in France and in this way she 
probably caused the death of many Germans. ' ' 

"Perhaps that is true, but I do not think 



152 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

well of the Germans for shooting a woman/ ' 
she replied. 

"War is not much of a respecter of persons,' ' 
I answered, ' ' and just recently the French shot 
two German women as spies, so I saw in the 
newspapers. Besides, remember the case of 
Joan of Arc, who was a brave leader of the 
French. She never was accused of being a spy, 
but the English burned her at the stake. To 
me it seems that excesses are common to war, 
sometimes rightfully, sometimes wrongfully. ' 9 

By this time the train was entering the sta- 
tion at Warnemiinde. Miss Bross seemed ner- 
vous. She handed me a small scrap of paper, 
saying, "If I am on the train after we leave 
Warnemiinde, hand it back to me ; otherwise do 
what you like with it. ' ' 

It was currently reported that all the passen- 
gers when entering or leaving a country at war, 
in Germany as well as in France and England, 
would be required to remove all their clothes 
and undergo a thorough examination. This 
proved to be the case in this instance, except 
where travelers could make an unusually good 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 153 

showing of neutrality and fairness, under which 
condition I passed the scrutinizing officers to 
my utmost satisfaction. 

When the steamship was crossing the Baltic 
Sea, I looked in vain among the passengers for 
Miss Bross, who, according to subsequent re- 
ports, was retained as a spy. The examining 
officer, a German lady, had found a plat of the 
military grounds at Spandau pasted to the sole 
of her bare foot. I never saw her again. 

This gave me the liberty to do as I pleased 
with the scrap of paper Miss Bross handed to 
me on the train. On examination I found it 
embodied a somewhat faulty plat of the mili- 
tary camp at Doberitz. 

In the illustration on the following page is 
shown the inner part of the grounds as con- 
ceived by this spy. Her scheme divulges the 
idea that the important positions, including the 
heavy guns and the garrison, were south of the 
railway station. Two monoplanes indicate by 
parabolic lines the positions where bombs may 
be thrown with great destructive effect upon the 
main body of the troops. 



*\&CU*?te^CLs£~t 



I 



WWiV/n ,',',',", 7, y, ',;>' ' ' ■ i 'fy wift •',','„* && 



£*£<z&&*t> 



A 



p^ 



k * 






>^ >r 



* M ' 



l\ 

\\ 
V. 



m J&. 



t 






*>r*+<fz£i>^y?qjesiX& 



The plat of Doberitz drawn by Miss Bross, who was arrested 
as a spy at Warnemiinde, where she was caught with a plat of 
Spandau pasted to the sole of her bare foot. 



THE DAINTY SPY AT BERLIN 155 

The outskirts of the prison camp, including 
the yards where the prisoners were employed 
at work, are shown so the enemy may avoid an 
attack from the south, since an assault from that 
direction would jeopardize the lives of the pris- 
oners. She conceived the idea that possession 
should be taken of the railway and two assaults 
should be made simultaneously from the east 
and west. 

All this appeared perfectly clear to me, since 
I had been over the grounds. Although her plan 
had proven of no value to any one, she had 
demonstrated much ability in studying condi- 
tions as they were and making an effort to place 
the report of her investigations in the hands of 
the foes of Germany. But she was foiled in her 
sharp practice and her map became worthless. 

It occurred to me immediately that I had as- 
sumed a dangerous and unnecessary risk in per- 
mitting her to place it in my custody. Had I 
known the contents of this innocent looking 
scrap of paper, it would have been utterly im- 
possible to have induced me to even touch it. 
However, the matter ended without injury to 



156 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

me, and I was extremely glad that I was sailing 
on the Baltic Sea, instead of being at the in- 
spection rooms at Warnemiinde with the scrap 
of paper in my pocket. 

In this matter I had been recklessly careless 
and had not exercised the precaution shown by 
Mr. Otto Tamini who had offered to sing some 
humorous verses if I would write them. I pro- 
posed When We Sailed to Denmark, which 
will be found on page seventy-eight of this book. 

These verses Mr. Tamini declined to sing be- 
cause he considered that the singing of such 
stanzas while he was detained in the imprisoned 
ship might be considered treasonable. He said : 
" If I sing these verses at such earnest times as 
war produces in this British territory the Eng- 
lish might shoot me as a spy." At the time the 
matter seemed trivial, but since then I came to 
agree with him. 



XVI 

METHODS OF SPYING 

rpHE business of a spy is looked upon very 
'■' differently by writers of repute. Some 
regard the spy as a base outlaw, fit only for 
execution. Others regard him as a necessary 
adjunct to warfare, or even as a benefactor in 
the scheme of protecting the country to which 
he belongs. 

As a general rule espionage is regarded a 
reputable profession as well as a military neces- 
sity, except when the spy is a traitor to his own 
country. 

In most instances the spy enters an extremely 
dangerous field, unnoticed and without ap- 
plause, and he does so with a feeling of patriot- 
ism. He seldom is honored or rewarded for his 
achievements. 

Sir Robert Baden-Powell, the noted major- 
general in the British army, has a long record 

157 



METHODS OF SPYING 159 

as a scout and spy, perhaps the best known in 
the annals of English military history. In sev- 
eral of his books he details many interesting 
incidents of his eventful career while serving 
in Afghanistan, Ashanti, India and South 
Africa. 

Sir Baden-Powell was not specially success- 
ful as an organizer of spies. His work con- 
sisted chiefly of his own activities, such as 
studying positions occupied by the enemy. Fre- 
quently he represented himself in the guise of a 
student, studying the contour of a district, the 
coast or shore of a country, or the fortifications 
of a city, aiming to learn their positions and 
armament. 

The accompanying illustrations are from the 
work of Sir Baden-Powell. They must be 
studied carefully to be understood. For in- 
stance, the ivy leaf and the butterfly show the 
plans of the forts, the spots denoting the num- 
bers and positions of the guns ; the calibers of 
the guns are indicated by the size of the spots. 

The present German system of spying took 
root in the campaigns of Frederick the Great 



160 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

and still stands without a peer in the annals of 
modern warfare. Other nations have large 
numbers of spies and what is commonly known 
as the secret police service, but nowhere do we 
find such thorough organization of scouts and 
the secret service police as in Germany. 

In 1870, soon after the beginning of the 
Franco-German war, Germany was able to put 
into the field not less than 20,000 secret service 
men. They operated not only in France, but 
were busy at home and in the neutral countries, 
everywhere observing and reporting. At the 
head of this force was Herr Wilhelm Stieber, 
who has the world record for daring deeds and 
for organizing large forces of secret service 
workers, both men and women. An account of 
his achievements was published under the title, 
Memoirs of the Secret Service Officer Stieber. 
In estimating the value of his work, Herr Stie- 
ber himself said, "One cannot set down in tha- 
lers the value either of bloodshed which has 
been avoided, or of victories which have been 
secured." 

That all countries in Europe have large forces 



METHODS OF SPYING 161 

of spies, particularly in the time of war, is well 
known. In my travels I met more English and 
Kussian spies, especially in Denmark, than 
either German or French spies. The spies and 
other secret agents in the Scandinavian coun- 
tries, barring those who act wholly from sym- 
pathy and including only those retained for con- 
sideration, I think the number of English secret 
service men, judging entirely from personal ex- 
perience, exceed in number those of any other 
class. 

Women acting as spies very commonly dis- 
guise as students, teachers and Eed Cross 
nurses. Sometimes they secure employment as 
domestics for service in the homes of influen- 
tial families ; at other times they engage as em- 
ployees in cafes, hotels and restaurants. They 
mingle with those who employ them and pay 
them wages, and at the same time plot against 
their life and property. However, more fre- 
quently they do not seek to destroy their bene- 
factors, but, instead, put forth their ingenuity 
to aid the army of their own country which they 
are helping so as to make the capture of a city 

11 



162 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

or the conquest of an unfriendly nation pos- 
sible. 

The occupations in which men engage while 
practicing espionage are very numerous. But 
that depends upon the region where they op- 
erate and the class of information for which 
they are looking. 

Many remove to the country where they op- 
erate and even become naturalized citizens. 
This I found to be common in Berlin, where 
many Belgians, French and English were 
operating. They had taken out naturalization 
papers, protested their loyalty to the country 
of their adoption, and at the same time carried 
on secret operations in disguise. This they did 
as barbers, waiters in eating houses, street la- 
borers and in numerous common occupations. 
They dressed and worked the same as others, 
attracted no attention, and generally pursued 
their art without suspicion. 

It is not seldom that the male spy disguises 
as a priest or minister. As missionary work is 
permitted in the Scandinavian countries, it is 
not uncommon to find a secret agent preaching 



METHODS OF SPYING 163 

in a public place, or visiting in the homes of 
those who want spiritual comfort. This method 
enables him to work on the public sentiment, to 
learn of the trend of public thought and to ac- 
quire a knowledge of arsenals, harbors and 
fortifications. 

The successful spy is well informed in the line 
in which he operates. It would not do for one 
to pose as a doctor unless he understands at 
least the rudiments of medicine, or to represent 
himself as a teacher if he is not versed in peda- 
gogy. For this reason each spy is an expert at 
what he professes. He is thereby equipped to 
discuss his pretended trade or profession intelli- 
gently, while, at the same time, he is working 
to accomplish his real purpose in espionage. If 
he is operating against your side, you put him 
down as a cur; but when he makes common 
cause with you, your feeling is that of admira- 
tion. 

Those who work at spying like it intensely. 
It seems to have a fascination for them, owing 
to the new conditions that arise constantly and 
tax the active brain. On the other hand, it 



164 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

makes men distrustful and suspicious. A spy 
looks upon everyone as of doubtful veracity; 
he relies only upon his own observations and 
verifies them with the greatest of care before 
forming conclusions or making reports of his 
operations. 

The danger of spying in the country of an 
enemy lies in being detected. Here the spy 
must exercise great care in writing or drawing, 
even in secret ink, as the censorship is so strict 
that every scrap of paper is examined and in 
many cases submitted to a chemical test. In 
the country of an enemy, the spy cannot have 
fellowship with another spy and must shift en- 
tirely for himself. 

The methods of spying have changed mate- 
rially since the advent of aviation. At present 
the flying machine is employed almost wholly 
to locate the enemy and the movements in the 
field of action. Not only this, but the firing 
itself is directed from the air, through signals 
which indicate the locality to be fired upon and 
the effectiveness of the shots. 

Many are the instances where armies consid- 



METHODS OF SPYING 165 

ered themselves safe from attack only to be hit 
by missiles thrown from cannon twenty miles 
away under the direction of aerial spies. These 
spies frequently are brought down to their death 
by a sudden attack from aerial field guns, which 
make destruction swift and certain. In fact, 
death is the lot of any spy who accomplishes 
much, and usually he dies self-satisfied with his 
own achievements. 

While I was in Copenhagen, early in Decem- 
ber, my eyes happened to catch in a magazine 
the declaration of Lieutenant Carl Lody, who 
had been condemned as a German spy in London 
and ordered shot for war treason. His declara- 
tion contains the following: "I do not cringe 
for mercy ; I am not ashamed of anything I have 
done ; I am in honor bound not to give away the 
names of those who employed me on my mis- 
sion; I was not paid for it; I did it for my 
country 's good ; I knew that I was carrying my 
life in my hands. Many a Briton was at the 
same time doing the same for his country." 

Lieutenant Lody, although he was executed as 
a spy, was lauded by a member of the British 



166 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

parliament as "A patriot who had died for his 
country as much as any soldier who fell in 
battle." 

There is as much system in spying as in the 
most exact of the recognized arts. In some 
places the stranger is entirely unnoticed, and 
in that case he needs to have no fear. When 
he is watched, when secret agents study him, 
although he has nothing to conceal and is 
entirely neutral, he best keep his own council. 
In this regard I had no difficulties at any time in 
my travels and never was under suspicion. 
Several times I thought it best to refuse to 
accept newspapers published in a country that 
was an enemy to the country in which I was 
traveling, and in some instances I refused to 
engage in any conversation whatever. These 
and similar precautions sometimes are very 
necessary as a protection to the innocent 
traveler. 



XVII 
SAILING THE CATTEGAT 

A FTER leaving Warnemunde, while on the 
•**■ Baltic Sea, I made the acquaintance of Mr. 
Carl Lutz, a business man from Wiirttemberg. 
He had been buying large quantities of supplies 
in Holland, shipping them to Germany, and was 
now opening a line of shipping from Denmark. 
"We lived at the Mission Hotel in Copenhagen 
the remainder of my time in that city, about six 
days, after which I embarked on the Danish 
steamship United States for New York. 

My experience with spies at this time was 
about the same as before. I met them in large 
numbers, their chief objects being to influence 
sentiment for or against Germany or England, 
depending on the country represented by these 
spies. 

At Hotel Bristol I met Mr. Denton, whom I 
had seen on my first visit to the city, through the 

167 




168 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 



JioTfcL MfSTOL 

H. L WILKENING 

Prpt. 

Kobenhavn, d. Ott, %\ } (ft^ 

Telegramadresse : ., B R I S T L" 

International . f 

Hotel Telegraph-Code foj^d/u X)dA><A^! 
- Statstelefon 9 - 

Telefon 7200 . //-• 




C~t~*-j j£jC2*&fc % 



Copy of the letter written to Mr. Jno. Davis. 



SAILING THE CATTEGAT 169 



influence of Mr. Fenwick. At first lie did not 
recognize me and, when I reminded him of our 
former meeting, he appeared pleased to see me. 

At Cafe Alhambra, a very nice eating place 
near the Hovedbanegaarden (principal railway- 
station), we met frequently and exchanged ex- 
periences in our recent travels. He was a good 
mixer and spoke German like a native. 

In a traveler's guide of Denmark, which Mr. 
Denton loaned to me, I found a letter written in 
October to Mr. Jno. Davis at Malmo, Sweden. 
With his consent I copied this letter on station- 
ery of Hotel Bristol, on which the original was 
written. A copy of it will be seen on another 
page of this book. 

This letter was important from the circum- 
stance that a number of British submarines had 
found their way into the Baltic Sea and were 
preying on the Swedish-German commerce. 
English spies were busy as bees watching the 
movements of German battle ships, fearing they 
would defeat and destroy the submarine flotilla 
that had commenced its work in a new field. 

The conditions in the Danish capital were nor- 



170 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

mally the same as they had been in October. 
Bulletin boards kept the public informed of the 
trend of the war, especially at the office of the 
Berlingshe Tidende, where the curious gathered 
in large numbers. 

The English spies were gathering data more 
than ever on Danish trade with Germany. When 
they learned that I was about to sail to New 
York they persuaded me to make inquiry about 
the Canadian Pacific steamships which sail from 
Liverpool to Saint John, New Brunswick. They 
recommended this line for the reason that the 
steamers were British and would not be stopped 
on the ocean. 

At the office of the Canadian Pacific Line I 
was offered a ticket from Copenhagen to Saint 
John, the conditions including board and lodg- 
ing to Liverpool as well as at that city while 
waiting for the steamer to reembark for Canada. 
However, I did not accept, because it would 
involve crossing the North Sea, which was 
dangerous at this time. Besides, I greatly pre- 
ferred to sail under a neutral flag. 

When I embarked on the ninth of December, 



SAILING THE CATTEGAT 171 

on steamship United States, several Russian 
and English spies I had seen before were at the 
ship. They had watched the loading of mails 
and admitted having information that Great 
Britain had changed her policy and would seize 
the American mails in the future. They like- 
wise told me they were looking for some parties 
wanted for espionage, but it appeared that those 
for whom they were looking did not sail at this 
time. 

A very narrow neck of water connects the 
Sound with the Cattegat, separating Denmark 
from Sweden. On the east side is Helsingborg 
and on the opposite side is Helsingor, the town 
where Shakespeare laid his foundation for the 
story of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. This 
water was protected by innumerable mines, 
planted by the adjacent countries, to prevent 
acts of hostility by the belligerent countries 
which might cripple or destroy the neutral ship- 
ping trade. 

The Cattegat is a fine stretch of water from 
the Sound to the Skagar-Rak, and on its eastern 
shore is Goteborg, the second city of Sweden. 



172 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

This city was interesting for the reason that a 
new line of trans-Atlantic shipping had been 
established late in the year. The largest steam- 
ship of this line is the Stockholm, which had just 
sailed for America. Sweden had no passenger 
steamers running to New York prior to the war 
and the larger business of the war period, partly 
larger because most of the ships of the bel- 
ligerent countries were not running, had caused 
the business men of Sweden to invest in trans- 
portation facilities. 

A few days after sailing, the Stockholm was 
stopped by an English cruiser and it was 
reported that she was hauled to Stornoway, 
where the mails bound for New York and some 
other cargo were removed. Being a neutral 
country was in itself not a guarantee that it 
could enjoy the freedom of the seas. Holland 
and the three Scandinavian countries had been 
placed between the upper and nether millstones. 
This intrusion of the British caused a wave of 
resentment to sweep over Sweden. 

When the ship reached Christiania, I im- 
mediately left the steamer and took some time 



SAILING THE CATTEGAT 



173 



to look over the docks and warehouses. The 
sentiment among the younger Norwegians, who 




I saw the painter put the finishing touches on the sign of 
the Red Cross. 



were emulating the maritime achievements of 
the Vikings, was favorable to the building of a 



174 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

larger merchant marine under the flag of 
Norway. 

They kept their vessels, including the smaller 
boats, well painted and in good repair. In many 
instances the sign of the Red Cross was painted 
on the life boats. 

Few people are as patriotic as the Norwe- 
gians, especially the sailors. I recall several in- 
stances where I saw the painter put the finishing 
touches on the sign of the Red Cross while sev- 
eral of his comrades stood by to see the ensign 
of their country sketched as a complement of the 
same. 

At Christiania the steamship United States 
was delayed two days, taking on much paper 
pulp and other freight, and this gave me time 
to renew some very interesting acquaintances I 
had made on my former visit. However, I found 
no change in the conditions, except that public 
opinion was becoming aroused against the 
British for the liberties they allowed themselves 
in detaining and searching Norwegian ships at 
sea. 

Some persons I met offered as an apology the 



SAILING THE CATTEGAT 175 

explanation that England, France and Eussia 
had supported Norway when it became inde- 
pendent from Sweden, while the policy of Ger- 
many was to encourage the union of the two 
countries. However, they admitted that the 
support given by the trio against Oscar II. was 
no adequate reason for trampling under foot 
the sovereignty of Norway. The sentiment of 
all Norwegians was centered on an agreement 
that no one nation is a lord or dictator over 
other nations on the sea and that the sea must 
be made alike free to the commerce of all 
countries. 

Secret service men were on hand at the docks 
to look over the cargo which was loading. A 
number of these worked their way on deck, 
pretending to say goodbye to friends, and when 
the ship sailed the crew and passengers were 
resigned to the conviction that the ship would 
be molested and delayed by the British con- 
trary to international law. 



XVIII 
A THOUSAND MILES AROUND 

rpHE course from Christiania to Christian- 
*■ sand was along the coast of Norway, in 
a southwesterly direction, but here we bent 
toward the west and then toward the northwest 
until a point north of the Shetland Islands was 
reached. We were now nearing the region 
where steamship Frederick VIII. had been cap- 
tured and imprisoned. 

It was on the thirteenth of December, early 
in the morning, that a wireless message flashed 
into the Marconi station saying, "United States, 
where are you?" Captain Goetsche clinched 
his fist and Chief Steward Lyngbye gritted his 
teeth as the ship went speeding toward the 
west. 

The passengers had been promised that the 
ship would reach New York by the twenty-first, 
in time to permit them to spend Christmas at 

176 



A THOUSAND MILES AROUND 177 



home. Every possible effort of the ship's offi- 
cers was being made to redeem that promise. 

Wireless messages began to come faster and 
more urgent, but nothing was seen of the 
intruder. It was still early in the morning and 
a deep darkness with some fog hung over the 
sea. Those who had come on deck became 
interested in the race for freedom that the 
United States was making. It was a righteous 
cause, a justifiable effort to escape the clutches 
of a powerful monster who was interfering with 
the trade of a neutral on the open sea. 

At last, coming around a point of land, ap- 
peared a British cruiser, which stopped us by 
a shot over the bow. The warship neared our 
starboard and a megaphone announced, "You 
are ordered to proceed to Greenock." 

"Greenock, where is Greenock V 9 reechoed a 
hundred voices. All were willing to admit that 
they had lived up to that time without knowing 
aught of Greenock. 

A map showed that the newly discovered town 
is in the Clyde Eiver, not far from Glasgow, 
Scotland. It looked as though we were to sail a 



12 



178 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

thousand miles out of the way. Visions of 
Christmas at sea began to percolate the intricate 
anatomy of the brain. 

After the formality of policing the ship with 
British soldiers armed with bayoneted rifles had 
been looked after, the vessel began to move 
southward. We passed the west end of the 
Shetland Islands, then cruised by the Orkney 
Islands, then sailed through the Straits of Minch 
and between the Hebrides and Scotland, then 
moved forward between the coasts of Ireland 
and Scotland, then passed into an arm of the 
Irish Sea, and finally turned northeast into the 
mouth of the Clyde. What reason Great Britain 
had for taking the ship on this long detour is a 
mystery unfathomable ! 

While we were at Greenock in an imprisoned 
ship, the Stockholm was reported at Stornoway 
and the Oscar II. with the Ford peace party was 
at Kirkwall. Other ships, mostly freighters, 
were being detained in all these places. The 
spies at Copenhagen had informed me correctly, 
that is, England had designed to tighten her 
grip upon neutral trade, including the Ameri- 
can mails. 



A THOUSAND MILES AROUND 179 



At the time we had approached the narrower 
channel of the river, after passing the Firth of 
the Clyde, the eye could trace long lines of 
floaters on the surface of the water. These 
floaters indicated both the nets to trap subma- 
rines and the presence of mines, of which there 
were thousands, and tugboats were employed to 
pull the floaters with the mines and nets aside 
so our ship could proceed up the stream. 




Illustration to show a string of mines in position, connected by 
wires with an electric station on the coast. 

Some of the mines were suspended loosely 
from the floaters, depending for explosion upon 
a jar or sudden contact, such as occurs when 
struck by the ship of a foe. Others were con- 
nected by copper wires with a station on the 
coast, from which they could be discharged 



180 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

electrically at will by an operator when the ships 
of an enemy came into their vicinity. 

Here I was a prisoner, surrounded by imple- 
ments of destruction. No matter where I looked, 
or in what direction I turned, thousands of 
bombs and mines confronted me. It required 
nothing more than a little spark, or even a mis- 
take in the movement of the ship, to set on fire the 
greatest field of powder and scatter the largest 
amount of shrapnel the world had ever seen at 
one place ready for action. 

On the fifth day of detention, that is, on the 
seventeenth of December, British officers and 
men began to remove the mails. They de- 
manded of Captain Goetsche that he must order 
the ship's crew to reload the bags and parcels 
on two small British steamers, the Flying 
Sprite and the Flying Scotchman. This the cap- 
tain refused to do, saying he had received the 
mails with special orders to deliver them to the 
American postal authorities in New York and 
that he would not willingly be a party to any 
project which would divert them from their 
legal course. 




This photograph shows the British in the act of taking the 
mails destined for America off the Danish steamship United 
States, reloading it on the small steamer Flying Sprite. 

(Opp. 180) 



A THOUSAND MILES AROUND 181 

The British, seeing that Captain Goetsche 
could not be intimidated, then seized the mails 
forcibly. They unloaded about 2,900 bags and 
parcels, consisting chiefly of Christmas presents 
sent to friends in America. When the captain 
reached New York, he could not deliver the 
mails entrusted to him, but, instead, gave over 
a scrap of paper issued as a receipt by the 
British officers in lieu of the same. 

The trip from Copenhagen to New York, 
owing to the long detour and delay caused by 
the British, had a duration of nineteen days and 
we landed in Hoboken on the twenty-eighth of 
December, three days after Christmas. 

A concert held on board the steamship while 
in mid-ocean for the benefit of the Sailors' 
Eeading Boom in Copenhagen netted 218 
kroner. For this concert I wrote the following 
lines : 

ON " UNITED STATES' ' 

The U. S. sailed across the sea 

With certainty through wave and swell ; 

Fast fled the time. — Now we must part 
And bid each other Fare-you-well ! 



182 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

To me life seems a tender thread 
That leaves the spindle day by day, 

We scarcely know how very soon 
Its sweetest moments pass away. 

The time your life was linked with mine 
In pleasant hours, with happy song, 

I'll ne'er forget, when far away — 
In memory's pages e'er prolong. 

A happy bird housed in its bower 
Sang ever in the sweetest tone, 

And so shall I in pleasant hour 

Recall the friends that I have known. 

The shell, though taken far away, 
Still sings its sweet song of the sea ; 

I wish that you some happy hour 
Would likewise sing a song for me. 

And thus may we, though far or near, 
Make life to us just what it seems, 

And ever live as best of friends 
In thoughts, in verses and in dreams ! 



XIX 

FILING A PROTEST 

A LARGE number of the passengers on 
board Frederick VIII. had united in a 
protest to the government of the United States 
and the countries of Denmark, Norway and 
Sweden. They had been delayed and endan- 
gered at sea without legal cause and had taken 
this method of making their objection known 
to their respective governments. 

A similar protest was prepared on board the 
United States and signed by many passengers. 
This petition was placed in my hands to be 
presented at the office of the Secretary of State 
at Washington. With this purpose I went per- 
sonally to the capital city. 

Here I learned that protests of various classes 
relating to the interference with neutral trade 
were multiplying rapidly. Mr. Ben G. Davis, 
chief clerk of Secretary Robert Lansing, had 

183 



184 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

been detailed to establish a branch office at New 
York so the business of this kind could be taken 
care of with greater dispatch than was possible 
at Washington, considering the distance of the 
capital city from the ports on the eastern coast. 
The British had placed on the black list one 
hundred and two trans-Atlantic freight ships. 
These ships were suspected of trading with the 
foes of Great Britain, or representing German 
capital, or carrying unneutral trade. They had 
a gross tonnage of 80,000 and a carrying 
capacity of 200,000 tons. The countries and the 
number of ships represented on the black list 
were as follows : 

Spain 1 

Brazil 3 

Holland 4 

Denmark 8 

United States 11 

Sweden 37 

Norway 38 

Total 102 

The American shippers were greatly crippled 



FILING A PROTEST 185 

by the policy of Great Britain. It was im- 
possible to secure sufficient ships to move the 
shipments which were accumulating in New 
York, Boston and other ports. On the black 
list appeared the following American vessels: 
Allagaush, Ausdble, Genesse, Hocking, Kanka- 
kee, Manitowoc, Maumee, Seneca, Winnebago, 
Minneconne and Mukkegon. 

The effect of this interference with neutral 
trade was a stagnation of shipments in the ports 
of the Atlantic seaboard. At New York there 
were 30,000 freight cars which were unable to 
unload, owing to the fact that the warehouses 
were glutted and insufficient ships were avail- 
able to relieve the pressure. In many places the 
goods were unloaded on the streets for want of 
room. Our farms and factories were losing 
their market, or at least in part, because the 
avenues of transportation to Europe were 
blockaded by British warships. 

The passengers on steamship United States 
who registered their protest against this ruinous 
policy did so in the following document : 

"Whereas, we, the undersigned passengers 



186 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

on the steamship United States, crossed the 
Atlantic ocean on said steamship sailing on 
December 9, 1915, from Copenhagen for New 
York; 

"Whereas, the said steamship was stopped 
and seized by a British cruiser when north of 
the Shetland Islands on December 13, 1915, and 
compelled under military escort to proceed with 
passengers and cargo to Greenock, Scotland, 
where a part of the mails (parcel post) bound 
for New York was unloaded and retained by 
the British; 

"Whereas, each of us was compelled unwill- 
ingly to be in the custody of military men for 
five days and with said steamship delayed in 
our course of necessary travel and conveyed the 
long distance from north of the Shetland Islands 
to the Clyde Eiver and in transit exposed at 
numerous places to mines and other great dan- 
gers while in the war zone, which said steamship 
did not intend to enter, we do, therefore, 

"PKOTEST most earnestly against the re- 
peated and persistent interference with neutral 
commerce in direct violation of international 



FILING A PROTEST 187 

law and contrary to the spirit and terms in 
which the issues of the War of 1812 were settled, 
and 

" PETITION our respective governments to 
adopt a firm policy to the end that illegal and 
indefensible interference with neutral travel 
and commerce be stopped and that any nation 
repeating or committing such flagrant acts of 
unfriendliness be held to strict accountability 
for the same. ' ' 

This is one of innumerable similar protests 
that were filed with the hope of securing protec- 
tion for American commerce. In the meantime, 
while the German marine trade was off the 
ocean and about a million tons of England's 
fleet had been sunk in the sea, while many 
neutral ships had been seized or were blacklisted 
by Great Britain, the freight rates on the high 
seas doubled and later increased from 200 per 
cent, to 500 per cent., in some instances even 
700 per cent. These conditions were made pos- 
sible largely through the work of secret service 
men of the entente allies, who were watching 
every car load of freight which arrived at our 



188 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

eastern gateways as well as every cargo loaded 
for transportation across the Atlantic. 

My experience with spies in the great Eu- 
ropean war led me to believe that the United 
States must rise up in defense against the 
pretensions of Great Britain on the sea. If our 
country is to be an independent nation, a force 
at home and a power in commerce, it must de- 
mand the freedom of the seas for the protection 
of its trade with other nations. A surrender of 
this principle now or in the future would reverse 
the achievements which came through the War 
of 1812 ; it would make Columbia subservient to 
the mandates of the British Jack. 



XX 

AMERICA OFF THE SEA 

rilHE British had issued Orders in Council 
•*■ under date of March 11, 1915, in which 
restrictions were placed upon American trade. 
This order and certain subsequent measures 
caused Robert Lansing, American Secretary of 
State, to promulgate many diplomatic notes and 
protests. They generally dealt with themes 
" relating to restrictions upon American com- 
merce by certain measures adopted by the 
British government. ' ' 

The number of cases in which American 
neutral rights were invaded had grown to enor- 
mous proportions during the progress of the 
war. They were so numerous that it became 
very difficult to determine the damage to com- 
merce, both actual and prospective, and to com- 
prehend the great importance of the wrongs 
inflicted upon the productive and shipping 

189 



190 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

industries. This fact and the influence that this 
policy of restriction on commerce, as promoted 
by Great Britain, would have upon the bel- 
ligerents of the present as well as future wars, 
especially so far as concerned the neutral rights 
and neutral interests, caused very serious ap- 
prehension among the people of America and 
the neutral countries of Europe. 

Within the first eleven months of the war no 
less than two thousand American cargoes were 
detained by the British. The number of such 
eases in the three months beginning March 11, 
1915, and ending June 15, 1915, according to 
public documents issued at Washington, were 
extremely large. Hundreds of ships were seized 
within this period and a list of the individual 
cases covers eleven pages of these documents. 
All these cases are tangible causes for damages, 
but the vast number of neutral vessels that were 
blacklisted and the still greater aggregation of 
ships that did not sail, fearing seizure or con- 
fiscation, must likewise be taken into account 
when contemplating the enormous depression 
which was suffered commercially by neutral 
nations. 



AMERICA OFF THE SEA 191 



By the beginning of 1916 the conditions had 
grown similar to those which prevailed immedi- 
ately before the beginning of the War of 1812. 
At that time, under date of June 1, 1812, Presi- 
dent James Monroe issued a message in which 
he used the following language : 

" Under pretended blockades, without the 
presence of an adequate force, and sometimes 
without the practicability of applying one, our 
commerce has been plundered in every sea, the 
great staples of our country have been cut off 
from their legitimate markets, and a destructive 
blow aimed at our agricultural and maritime 
interests. In aggravation of the predatory 
measures that have been considered as in force 
from the dates of their notification, a retrospec- 
tive effect being thus added, as have been done 
in other important cases, to the unlawfulness of 
the course pursued. And to render the outrage 
the more signal these mock blockades have been 
reiterated and enforced in the face of the official 
communications from the British government 
declaring as the true definition of a legal block- 
ade 'that particular ports must be actually 



192 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

invested and previous warning given to vessels 
bound to them not to enter.' " 

This statement of President Monroe had 
reference to the system of blockades proclaimed 
by the British under the name of Orders in 
Council and, in speaking of the freedom of the 
sea, he says the following in the same message : 

"It has become, indeed, sufficiently certain 
that the commerce of the United States is to be 
sacrificed, not as interfering with the belligerent 
rights of Great Britain; not as supplying the 
wants of her enemies, which she herself sup- 
plies, but as interfering with the monopoly 
which she covets for her own commerce and 
navigation. She carries on a war against the 
lawful commerce of a friend that she may the 
better carry on a commerce with an enemy.' ' 

The commercial marine of the United States, 
under the vigorous policy of President Monroe 
and his successors, developed sufficiently within 
this period that ninety-two per cent, of the for- 
eign trade was carried in American ships. This 
favorable condition continued throughout the 
epoch extending to the beginning of the Civil 



AMERICA OFF THE SEA 193 

War, which remained in full sway from 1861 
until 1865. During this contest, while the 
Americans were in the greatest war of the New 
World, the British again destroyed the com- 
merce of America. Ever since that time the 
commercial flag of the United States has been 
practically unknown in trans-oceanic trade. 

The so-called Declaration of London, which 
is a codification of the laws of the sea, was 
promulgated in 1909 by the representatives of 
an international conference called at the invita- 
tion of the British government. In this meeting 
the leading nations participated, although some 
of the countries, including Great Britain, did not 
formally ratify the final conclusions. According 
to the Declaration of London, no absolute con- 
traband of war is recognized, except the actual 
implements employed in action by the belliger- 
ents. The same document defines such articles 
as saddlery, coal, barbed wire, food and clothing 
as conditional contraband. However, in case 
the latter class were in transit and destined for 
the enemy, such articles might be seized. 

In his book entitled The Economic Aspect of 

13 



194 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

the War, Prof. Edwin J. Clapp discusses the 
relevant portion of this feature of international 
law as follows : 

"By common consent the seas are the public 
highways of nations ; outside a zone three miles 
from shore they are not the domain of any one 
nation. They belong to peaceful commerce, not 
to belligerents who roam their surface seeking 
to destroy each other. As a remnant of marine 
barbarism, a belligerent has the right, if it has 
the power, to capture or drive from the ocean 
the merchant vessels of its foe. To the extent 
of its command over the sea, a belligerent may 
prevent contraband of war from reaching an 
enemy in any vessels ; and, if capable of block- 
ading the enemy's sea coast, may put a stop 
to all ocean commerce of the blockaded country. 
Under international law these were the limits 
and conditions of interfering with commerce 
between neutrals and a country at war. 

1 ' Only within much narrower limits, according 
to modern conceptions of international law, can 
a belligerent interfere with commerce between 
neutrals themselves. This commerce may be 



AMERICA OFF THE SEA 195 

interrupted only when it consists of contraband 
of war — the actual tools of fighting — demon- 
strably in transit to enemy territory. ? ' 

According to the Declaration of London, such 
articles as cotton, hides, rubber, wool and lin- 
seed oil were to be on the free list. This was 
agreed upon because these commodities were 
important as articles of the commerce of neutral 
nations and because they were necessary to 
support civilians in belligerent countries who 
do not participate in acts of hostility, particu- 
larly children, women and aged persons. From 
this no change was made until England, by 
Orders in Council on August 20, 1914, added 
the conditional list to the absolute list and later 
added still many more free articles to the 
schedule of contraband. Regarding this Prof. 
Clapp says: 

"This action stopped our direct trade with 
Germany. It might appear that goods on the 
free list could still move. Some of them did 
move, from free to contraband. People feared to 
ship to others lest they should be so listed while 
ships were on the ocean, and the goods made 



196 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

subject to seizure. Practically nothing has been 
shipped to Germany from this country but 
cotton, and it was not shipped until December. 
In belated response to the insistence of southern 
senators and of American business interests 
which had found themselves gravely embar- 
rassed by the cessation of cotton shipments, 
Great Britain finally made a clear statement 
that this particular commodity would not be 
considered contraband. ' ' 

Although the American government protested 
from time to time against the British Orders 
in Council which transferred practically every 
important article of commerce to the absolute 
list, no relief whatever was secured. To these 
protests must be added the many notes and 
protestations filed against the British blockade 
by Sweden, Norway, Denmark and other neutral 
countries. In the latter part of 1915, when the 
feeling for independence on the sea had reached 
a high mark in the Scandinavian countries, they 
went so far as to form an understanding favor- 
able to a union of effort for relief and in some 
cases reprisals were made by holding British 
mails. 



AMERICA OFF THE SEA 197 

These protests were not only without avail, 
but England became even more active in limiting 
commerce among the neutral countries. This 
policy included the scheme which permitted the 
non-belligerent countries to obtain only suffi- 
cient clothing and food which was actually 
necessary for a scant living. As a consequence 
their trade was diminished or ruined, while the 
prices of food and clothing attained high marks 
and the fires of many factories became dark and 
cold. The nations which did not engage in the 
war, which preferred to remain neutral, were 
paying a high price for their neutrality and at 
the same time were reduced to a form of depend- 
ence upon England quite akin to vassalage. 

Step after step had been taken to destroy the 
high dignity of the countries which loved the 
victories of peace better than the glories of war. 
Within these nations were hundreds of spies and 
secret service men who had studied the condi- 
tions of their economical life, who had learned 
the situation and made reports to their own 
governments, and upon which many of the un- 
suspecting Scandinavians looked as friendly. 



198 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

In the meantime the garrote was fixed around 
the neck so tightly that the strangulation of 
their commerce was nothing less than a gigantic 
and felonious industrial, moral and political 
homicide committed on the high seas by Great 
Britain. 

Indeed, it was difficult to understand the 
policy of the American government as defined 
by President Wilson. While the neutral coun- 
tries, under the leadership of Sweden, took 
steps to warn their citizens not to sail on the 
armed ships of belligerent nations, while they 
made reprisals upon Great Britain for interfer- 
ing with their mails, President Wilson pro- 
moted the view that Americans should be pro- 
tected when sailing on the ships of warring 
nations which carried armament. 

It is doubtful whether the position of Presi- 
dent Wilson could be defended from the stand- 
point of international policy ; whether the Amer- 
ican government itself would consider the ship 
of a foe, if it were engaged in a war, immune 
from attack because it had on board a citizen 
from a neutral country. 



XXI 
WHAT IS AMERICANISM 

npHE United States is an aggregation of 
*■" nations, many peoples having contributed 
to the up-building of a glorious whole. Endless 
generations, many of which came from the best 
physical forces of Europe, have been united by 
inseparable bonds of hands and hearts. The 
amalgamation and assimilation is growing so 
complete, so truly uniform, that all traces of 
distinct groups of citizens are disappearing 
rapidly. 

It seems to me that we should have no quarrel 
with those who still treasure fond recollections 
of the country of their ancestry, or even the 
land of their nativity, so long as they willingly, 
whether in peace or war, defend the interests 
of the United States. Indeed, the inclination to 
think well and speak tenderly of the parent 

199 



200 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

stock should be regarded a virtue to be 
emulated. 

Although the conquest of England by the 
Danish-German invaders occurred fifteen cen- 
turies ago, many Englishmen and people of 
English descent, including numerous Ameri- 
cans, display no mean pride when they speak of 
themselves as Anglo-Saxons. They continue to 
contribute to the literature and history of civili- 
zation in terms, not of inordinate self-esteem, 
but of justifiable self-respect. 

Americans of foreign birth, or of foreign 
parentage, have contributed so much to the 
success and greatness of the United States that 
any text in history would be incomplete if the 
details of their achievements were omitted. And 
in this respect no one nation of western Europe 
stands alone. Neither does one group of these 
loyal people occupy a place of honor above the 
others. In peace and war, in fellowship and 
patriotism, these peoples have vied with each 
other and with the native Americans to lead in 
the procession that has sustained Old Glory. 

The proof of what is said here will be 



WHAT IS AMERICANISM 201 

emphasized when such names as Baron von 
Steuben, Patrick Henry, John Ericsson, the 
Sheridan family, Carl Schurz and hosts of 
others, who helped to make and save the Ameri- 
can republic, are mentioned. These patriots 
and people of their kind, including millions in 
number, have marched forward with no uncer- 
tain step. 

They plowed the fields, felled the forests, 
drained the swamps and irrigated the deserts. 
In every epoch of our history, in all parts of 
our broad domain, we find these people in the 
professions, in commercial pursuits and in 
transportation enterprises. In the last two 
hundred years, we scarcely find an invention, 
an unusual and valuable discovery, that they 
did not seek to make before it became known 
or promote after it was actuated. Every sec- 
tion of the country, from the Mississippi Valley 
to the most remote outposts, the nation has felt 
the impulse of their thrift and loyalty. 

One of the marvels of American history is 
found in the ease with which the various peoples 
who came from foreign lands have been assimi- 



202 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

lated. They are found everywhere, in all the 
fields of political, social and religious life, and 
in no instance have they banded themselves to- 
gether in opposition to law and order. On the 
contrary, they have been as law-abiding as the 
average native Americans. 

Those who seek to arouse race antipathies 
commit a grievous offense against public policy. 
They excite the passions, the hatred, which can 
be overcome only by honesty and fair treatment. 
In committing this off ense, they display a prej- 
udice which a patriotic citizen considers un- 
patriotic, if not criminal. 

Americanism may be defined as a virtue which 
attaches one to the laws, customs and institu- 
tions of the United States. It embodies loyalty 
and devotion to the welfare of his country. 

The name Americanism must not be used as 
a cloak to conceal prejudice. It cannot be em- 
ployed to arouse antagonism among groups of 
citizens who are of different lines of descent. 
Instead, the term implies charity toward all. 
It signifies a desire to fulfill conscientiously the 
duties and obligations due the government. 




This photograph shows the petition which demands that the 
Congress of the United States maintain strict neutrality by 
placing an embargo on the shipment of arms and ammunition 
to any belligerent nation of Europe. It was photographed at 
the residence of Miss Nellie L. Miller, President of the American 
Women's League for Strict Neutrality. 

This petition contains l,035,6y7 names and is the largest 
document of the kind ever presented to Congress. It is 82,000 
feet long, about fifteen and a half miles. Senators Kenyon, 
Works, La Toilette, Hitchcock and others supported it by 
making vigorous speeches in favor of its demands, designating 
the petition as the most patriotic evidence of Americanism. 



(Opp. 202) 



WHAT IS AMERICANISM 203 

On Bedloe *s Island, in the Bay of New York, 
stands Bartholdi's celebrated statue known as 
Liberty Enlightening the World. This work of 
art does not escape the eye of the traveler, no 
matter whether he is going or coming from 
abroad. By displaying the torch of liberty, 
which the goddess proudly holds aloft, it dis- 
plays the love and charity of Americanism. 
The following stanzas, entitled Liberty, I dedi- 
cated to this emblem of higher citizenship : 

LIBERTY 

Hail to the woman with the torch of fire, 

Standing on Bedloe 's Isle the world to guide ! 
Beacon to pilgrims of worthy sire, 

Guide to the homeless! Far and wide 
Has thy mighty welcome blazed its way 

To all earth's tired as well as me, 
And now I see the break of better day, 

The dawn of freedom and of liberty ! 

Unlike the brazen Rhodes of Grecian lore, 
With mighty limbs from land to land; 

She stands upon the eastern sea-washed shore, 
The emblem of the free in heart and hand ! 



204 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

Her face is glad with music of the Spheres, 
Her eyes as stars in glowing beauty shine, 

She lights the path to peace in future years, 
She progress gives to me and all of mine ! 

Long centuries had pressed upon the poor, 

Had made them dead to joy and faith and fear ; 
They could not hope to see an open door, 

So pressed with pain, could scarcely shed a tear: 
The Tragedy of Time caused head to bow, 

The Wheel of Labor made the back to bend ; 
Profaned and robbed, what could they do, and how? 

What shores to them would friendly welcome send ? 

The masters and the lords of royal blood 

With monstrous mandates crushed the living soul, 
And ground man down with burdens and the flood 

Of wars. And, as the years and ages roll, 
Refused to right the base perfidious wrongs 

That dwarf and stun the much-bewildered brain — 
But hark! I hear the welcome, new-born song 

And see the torch of liberty again ! 

Glides now the ship to anchor in the bay — 

Soon will I tread the shore of my adopted land 

And breathe a purer spirit, blessed day, 
As I step on the far-enchanted strand ! 



WHAT IS AMERICANISM 205 

This heritage is nature's noblest gift 
To man, and to the multitudes that come, 

As well as all who long have been adrift, 
And rest at last to make this land their home. 

Hail to the woman with the torch of fire, 

Standing on Bedloe's Isle the world to guide! 
Beacon to pilgrims of worthy sire, 

Guide to the homeless! Far and wide 
Has thy mighty welcome Mazed the way 

To all earth y s tired as well as me, 
And now I see the break of better day, 

The dawn of freedom and of liberty! 



XXII 

POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 

THE SISTINE MADONNA 

I lingered much in Dresden's famous halls 
And long before the noted canvas stood ; 

It cast a wondrous halo on the walls 
And seemed to pledge the soul for greater good ; 

I fancied here that heaven is not afar 

And that the pearly gates are turned ajar. 

The cloud of countless cherubs drawing near, 
And saints with deep devotion singing praise, 

Announce that the heaven-born child is here, 
And herald tidings forth in seraph-lays ; 

Peace be to men, avoid the scourger's rod, 

Hail ye the chosen, holy Son of God. 

Let those who came to scoff remain to pray, 
And those who jest, heed well the voice within ; 

Let those who will now choose the better way 
Forsake the paths of evil and of sin — 

And woe to him who scorns the holy song 

I seem to hear from Raphael's angel throng. 
206 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 207 

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS 

In Riddarholms Church, now six centuries old, 
Is the tomb of Gustavus Adolphus, the Bold; 
Inscribed with the Gothic so strange, seer and hoary 
And bedecked with the flags that won honor and glory. 

At seventeen years he ascended the throne 
And made the great cause of Sweden his own ; 
The wars with the Danes he brought to an end 
And yielded to them no part of his land. 

The Russians defeated, at Stolbowa made peace 

And to fair Esthonia signed a release, 

While the Poles from the shores of the Baltic were 

driven 
And the land of the Letts to Gustavus was given. 

With a foothold in Europe far south of the sea, 
His armies marched forward through valley and lea ; 
They crowded the foe from line back to line, 
From the highlands of Prague to the banks of the 
Rhine. 

At Breitenfeld Tilly met signal defeat 

And his army to Liitzen beat hasty retreat; 

Where Gustavus again to victory led, 

But was found in the field with the honorable dead. 



208 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

He had marched far in Europe with men, horse and 

car 
To end the great waste of the Thirty Years' War, 
To save for his country the faith he held true, 
To give to the world this old faith anew. 

In Riddarholms Church I bowed at his tomb 

And thought of the light that he plucked from the 

gloom, 
Of the faith that he saved and the schools that he 

built, 
And his freedom from stain, from wrong and from 

guilt. 

And the lesson I learned from his life good and true 
In memory I stored and write it for you : 
// we seek after wisdom, put falsehood aside, 
We will march on to victory through storm, flood and 
tide! 

THE SEASONS 

I love the springtime for its flowers, 
For its cooling evening showers; 
For the buzzing of the bees, 
And the blossoms of the trees; 
For the freshness of the air, 
And the joy seen everywhere; 
For the birds that sweetly sing 
In the Spring ! 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 209 

I love the summer for its growing, 
For its herds of cattle lowing, 
For the long and pleasant day, 
And the fields of new-mown hay; 
For the waving fields of corn, 
And the tuneful dinner horn ; 
Which is the favorite season mine? — 
Summertime ! 

I love the autumn for its glimmer, 
As the twilight hues grow dimmer; 
For the laden orchard trees, 
And the cooling, healthful breeze ; 
For the chase of squirrel and coon, 
And the happy harvest moon ; 
Then we have the mystic haze — 
Autumn days! 

I love the winter for its pleasure, 
For its rigor, health and leisure ; 
For its evenings full of mirth 
At the fireside on the hearth ; 
For the school days full of labor, 
For the visits with the neighbor ; 
Pleasant days in every clime — 
Wintertime ! 

I love all seasons of the year 

For what they bring of hope and cheer ; 

14 



210 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

They serve us well in nature's plan, 
If we but do the best we can ; 
And if we strive as seasons roll, 
Successfully well reach the goal — 
In winter, spring — summer and fall, 
Seasons all! 

ES KAM EIN SCHONES MADCHEN 

Es kam ein schones Madchen 
Weit uber Land und Meer 

In einem Schiff gefahren — 
Die liebe ich so sehr! 

Ihr' Augen gleich den Knospen 
Sind hell wie Morgentau, 

Die Wangen, 0, so lieblich 
Wie Friihling's schonste Au. 

Ihr Haar ist wie die Seide, 
Im klaren Sonnenschein ; 

Die Lippen sprechen zartlich, 
Nur sanft und schon und fein. 

Ein solches holdes Madchen 
Mehr wertvoll ist denn Gold; 

Gott nioge sie erhalten 
So zart und rein und hold. 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 211 

HOPE AND TRY 

Hope within the heart lies slumbering 

Like the dew in field and vale, 
And springs out of deepest sorrow 

Like the sun through storm and gale. 

Hope sprouts as a tender plantlet 

Like the seed by day and night, 
And shines through the largest tear-drops 

Like the gem in sparkling light. 

As the spider, spinning daily, 
Makes new webs to catch the fly, 

So the heart must toil and labor, 
Plan and plod and hope and try. 

Though you may be disappointed 

Full a thousand times or more, 
Hope will be your stay and comfort 

As your thoughts to heaven soar. 

TWO ROSES 

At early morn two roses 

Bedecked with sparkling dew 

Had blown in blushing beauty, 
No finer ever grew, 
No finer ever grew. 



212 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

I waited till the noontide, 
The bloom had larger grown, 

But still I could not pluck them 
And left them there alone, 
And left them there alone. 

At eve the bloom had wilted 
With petals shrunk and torn, 

And sadly I regretted 
That I was left forlorn, 
That I was left forlorn. 

And let this be a lesson 

To my friends kind and true, 

That we should pluck the roses 
In early morning dew, 
In early morning dew. 

WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN 

When Peace, the noblest gift of all, 

Had from fair Europe's face been torn, 
And many nations, great and small, 

Were called their gallant sons to mourn- 
In these great times he rose to speak 

To sway the trend of soul and mind, 
With purpose clear and calm and meek, 

For peace and love and human kind. 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 213 



His voice was heard in chambered hall 

By men who guide the ship of state, 
And like the oak, firm, strong and tall, 

He would not yield; he could not hate 
The common cause of God and man, 

And plead for peace with fervid breath, 
And sounded forth eternal ban 

On cruel war and brutal death. 



Can it be true that men of state 

Heed not the voice that pleads for peace- 
Will they delay until too late 

To bid the dogs of war to cease? — 
He stood for honor, firm and strong, 

A stately man, the nation's pride, 
The trusted son of host and throng, 

And laid the robes of state aside. 



His larger mission, joy betide, 

Extends far over palm and pine, 
To human kind and nations wide 

In every land and every clime — 
And this it is : We'll crown God King, 

When love shall reignrand wars shall cease, 
And to Him praise and homage bring, 

The ever-living Prince of Peace. 



214 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

IN THE NORTHLAND 

Far to the north where the cold breezes blow 
And the peaks of the mountains are covered with snow, 
Where the hills through the fjords reecho to me 
The roar and the storm of the wonderful sea — 

Thence would I fly 

With storm-elf s to vie ! 

Away in the cold of the Laplandic haze, 
Where the sun of the midnight shines endless days, 
And the shrubs all are bowed with dense, hoary frost, 
And the heat of the desert is scattered and lost, 

There would I roam 

Away, far from home! 

And far on the heights of the tundra and plain, 
With lightning and thunder and deluging rain ; 
Where the wayward are swept in the wake of the 

storm 
And the valleys and hills of their forests are shorn — 

There would I be 

Grim nature to see ! 

In the primeval woods, eternally green, 
Where the bright rays of sun seldom are seen ; 
And wrapped in the darkness of night throughout day, 
The lynx and the fox and the bear are at bay — 

There would I go 

In coldest of snow ! 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 215 

On the wild, restless deep, 0, let me sail 
When the breakers are dashed high by the gale 
And the wild ocean moans its wonderful song 
As the great vessel plunges and hastens along — 
There let me glide 
Through gales swift and wide ! 

My soul is enraptured when nature is mad, 
And its gales and its storms but make me glad ; 
And whither I go, or where I may be, 
Just send the great northern Storm King to me — 

Then will I be 

Both happy and free ! 

IF I WERE A BIRD 

If I were a bird, I would sing for you 

The sweetest songs that ever I knew, 

And I would sing them in tones so clear 

That they would soothe and comfort and cheer. 

If I were an artist, I'd paint your face 
With its sweetest smiles and gentlest grace, 
And I'd place the picture so it would be 
A constant companion and guide for me. 

If I were a gardener, I 'd grow the bloom 
To bedeck and scent your favorite room; 
I'd bring you blossoms from day to day 
And stay by your side forever and aye. 



216 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

If I were a poet, I'd write in rhyme 
And tell of the love that only is thine ; 
These verses would cover volumes of pages 
With tales of devotion in cycles and ages. 

0, were I so skilled in all of these graces 
I 'd cheer and illumine your favorite places, 
And there we would dwell at each other's side, 
With art, song and flowers forever abide. 

WENN ICH MEIN HERZ VERSTEHE 

Wenn ich mein Herz verstehe — 

Schlagt es allein fur dich, 
Du mach 'st mir Freud und Wehe — 

Denk'st du auch oft an mich? 

Du bist mein Heil und Leben, 
Mein Sinn, mein Wohl, und Gut ; 

Willst du dein Herz mir geben? 
Vollkommen war' mein Mut. 

Die Zeit da ich dich sahe, 
1st jetzt schon lang' dahin; 

0, war die Stunde nahe, 
Wenn du war'st wo ich bin. 

Enfernt, lass' ich dich griissen, 
Verbannt in Sklavenschacht, 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 217 

Im Traum zu deinen Fiiszen, 
Bringt mich fast jede Nacht. 

Ick mochte dich unfassen 

Sobald die Tulpen bliih'n; 
Und wiird' dich nie verlassen, 

Und niemals von dir flieh'n. 

Treu werde ich dir geben 

Das beste was ich hab, — 
Allein fiir dich zu leben 

Bis an das kiihle Grab. 

Wenn ich mein Herz verstehe — 

Schlagt es allein fiir dich, 
Du mach 'st mir Freud und Wehe — 

Denkst du auch oft an mich? 



THE CHURCHYARD AT TRONDHJEM 

The churchyard at Trondhjem, the city of silence, 
Reposed 'mid the hills of stone and of clay, 

Thy graves are as green as the leaves of the birchwood 
Though many were made when the Vikings held 
sway — 

Long ere the great dome church towered above thee, 

Long ere its bells rang over tundra and lea. 



218 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

Here sleep the Northmen, whose wonderful sagas 
Of valor at sea, now ten centuries old, 

Still live in legend, in song and in story 
And often at bedtime to children are told — 

How they conquered the restless maelstrom commo- 
tion, 

How they bridled the waves of the mightiest ocean. 

Here sleep the monks that founded the dome church, 
Near by the priests who prayers often said, — 

See, how the many moss-covered crosses 

Show us where lie these long-honored dead — 

May they sleep in peace, their labor is done, 

May they sleep in peace, their laurels are won. 

Here sleep the reformers of Gustavus Adolphus 
In silence at rest beneath the greensward, 

They lived for their work, they lived for the church, 
And now are reposed in the bosom of God — 

Speak kindly of them, they toiled not in vain, 

Speak kindly of them, their work is our gain. 

Here sleep the dead that are noted in story, 
"Whose fame has been sung and in history told, 

And here sleep the dead who have long been forgotten 
Because they were poor and not keenly bold — 

But the sickle of death knows no title or nation, 

And the sickle of death is no respecter of station. 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 219 

The churchyard of Trondhjem, the city of silence, 
Reposed 'mid the hills of stone and of clay, 

Thy graves are as green as the leaves of the birchwood 
Though many were made when the Vikings held 
sway — 

Thy graves and thy dead and thy church seem to me 

As great as the greatest of land and of sea. 



THE SLOTHFUL 

By the field of the slothful I went, 

At the early dawn of the day, 
Where the summer in folly was spent, 

And the winter brought want and dismay; 
Rank thistles were robbing the soil, 

And nettles were choking the grain ; 
The hedges had long been afoul 

With weeds that were seeding again. 

And the sluggard was yet on his couch 

With sleep and with slumber unmanned, 
He was living the way of the slouch 

And wasting the fat of the land ; 
And with age shall his poverty come, 

And his want and distress shall be great, 
And his sorrows shall sadden his home — 

Because he has always been late ! 



220 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

And this is the lesson I learned 

As I turned from the slothful awa£ : 
That wisdom by labor is earned 

At the golden dawn of the day — 
And I left the sluggard asleep, 

Alone to his slumber and want, 
To the heights of Excelsior to leap, 

In labor's most beautiful hawnt! 



VENICE 

All night the steamer sailed the Adriatic 

To reach at early morn the calm lagoon 
At Venice, — the famous, the erratic, — 

Where pipes the gondolier his doleful tune ; 
And here the sea is even more inspiring 

As far and high Palladian temples rise — 
We view the Doge's Palace, so admiring, 

And scan with dread the wondrous Bridge of Sighs. 

Comes now the gondolier. His numerous horde 

Surrounds the ship that brought us here ; 
Tn groups of two or three we leave the board 

And slowly move with little doubt or fear. 
And now I set my foot on land again, 

Not far from Marcos' Place with mighty tower, 
And with the lion of Byzantine's fame — 

T shall not soon forget this crowning hour ! 



POEMS WRITTEN ABROAD 221 

How shall I ever scan these streets and bridges, 

And these canals that form a mystic maze, 
Or tire of gazing over roofs and ridges, 

That now are glimmering in the morning haze ? 
And can I ever tell, the wondrous vision 

That from San Marcos • tower comes to me, — 
How lagoon and islands form a marked division 

Between the Alps and the ever restless sea? 

All day the Grand Canal its burdens carries 

Of barge and boat that hurry to and fro, 
And e'en at night this movement little tarries 

Or when the restless tides are high or low ; 
At the Rialto Bridge the crowds are vaster 

Even than at the famed San Marcos' Place, — 
At day they come to trade, at eve to master 

The native songs, or to promenade apace. 

How lovely is a trip, when shadows lengthen, 

To Lido, the flowery islet of the sea ; 
At eve, when sea-cooled breezes strengthen 

The human form, it gives new hopes to me ! 
Soon I will see the lights of Venice gleaming 

Across the lagoon's much reputed shoal, 
And hear the mighty tide of Lido streaming 

As from the sea the rushing water roll ! 

But Venice still of olden times is dreaming 
When masters, such as Titian, flourished here, 



222 MY EXPERIENCE WITH SPIES 

Its ancient walls, in the sunset gleaming, 
As shades of former glory now appear ; 

The stallions which on yonder church are prancing, 
The prize once taken by the Corsican, 

Remind us only by their graceful dancing 
How falls the powerful reign of kingly clan ! 

I glance once more across the panorama 

Of gilted tower and bridge and halls of art, 
And ponder long upon the cyclic drama 

In which such men as Marco Polo played a part- 
But what of life and all the joy and leisure, 

And golden hours, if they but end in vain ? 
I view Venetian glory filled with pleasure, 

And feel her poverty with grief and pain ! 



POEMS OF FRIENDSHIP 

The Latest Epoch-Making Literary Production 
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Poems of Love Poems of Sentiment 

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